Hello! What have we here? Billy Dee Williams, the renowned actor, doesn’t appear to be troubled by the racial practice of blackface? During an interview with Bill Maher on his podcast, “Club Random,” the 87-year-old actor discussed the 1965 film adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Othello,” in which Laurence Olivier portrayed the title role of a Moor—a Black man. He thus acted in blackface.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the term “Blackface” refers to “the practice of wearing makeup to imitate the appearance of a Black person.” The use of such makeup was associated with minstrel shows in the United States from the 1830s until the mid-20th century; it is now regarded as highly offensive.”
Williams recalled, “When [Olivier] did ‘Othello,’ I fell out laughing. He stuck his a** out and walked around with his ass because Black people are supposed to have big a**es.” This is indeed a racist cliche, Mr. Williams.
Blackface was quickly criticized by Maher, who sought to pull it back. Williams said, “I thought it was hysterical,” and he laughed. “I adored it. That kind of stuff is my fave.”
Maher persisted in challenging Williams, asserting that it is improper to wear blackface. Williams said, “Why not? You should do it,” Williams exclaimed. “If you’re an actor, you should do anything you want to do.”
Yes, but don’t do blackface. Not in Billy Dee Williams’ opinion. Maher implied that the Black actor’s career skirted prejudice by trying to make the “Star Wars” star realize that, even in his prime, he shouldn’t have been allowed to portray the roles he did. Williams portrayed Lando Calrissian in three separate Star Wars movies: The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Return of the Jedi (1983), and Rise of Skywalker (2019). Among his more significant roles were appearances in Batman (1989) and other films.
Williams reiterated his vile viewpoint, stating, “The point is that you don’t go through life feeling like, ‘I’m a victim. I refuse to go through life saying to the world, ‘I’m pissed off.’ I’m not gonna be pissed off 24 hours a day.”
Let’s be clear on two things. First, Williams is a legendary actor and has done great things for black people in the industry. He’s certainly the greatest black actor in the Star Wars franchise.
Second, blackface should be the target of Black people’s ire if they have any. This behavior, which dehumanizes Black people, offensively characterizes Black culture, and is just plain offensive, has a racist past that dates back to the Jim Crow South and beyond. This list was surpassed by Ovier’s Othello, who wore blackface for the part.
He was trying to make the point that all actors should be able to play whoever they want. This is true since the industry often limits the roles of minorities. Any role that would go to a caucasian actor should be available to all. However, there’s a big difference between casting a black man to play a doctor and a white man painting his face black to play a black man.
The issue of people in a majority group taking the role of a minority has a long history. For example, in the 1986 picture Short Circuit, Fisher Stevens played Indian engineer Ben Jabituya. He even returned to the character in the 1988 follow-up. He had to endure several rounds of makeup for the job to seem “Indian,” and he also had to alter his voice to sound more regional.
In a recent interview to promote his Apple TV+ drama Palmer, Stevens spoke to Yahoo Entertainment and said that the Short Circuit role “definitely haunts me. I still think it’s a really good movie, but I would never do that part again.” Besides the fact that the role should have gone to an Indian actor. His “hilarious” malapropisms are offensive to Middle Eastern people. It perpetuates a hurtful stereotype. There was a lot of controversy when Hank Azaria was criticized for his portrayal of Apu in The Simpsons.
Times have changed, but it’s just as wrong in 1986 to do blackface as it is today. There are countless examples of people imitating minority roles.
Billy Dee Williams is a legend and has performed almost a hundred roles in his lifetime. His career has benefited from the progress in the industry when it came to black actors. But even then, it’s been hard for him. He was likened to Clark Gable early in his career, but later stated, “I wanted to be known as one of the best actors of my generation, period, but the opportunities weren’t the same for me as they were for Gable, and I was frustrated.”
Times are changing and actors are waking up to the need to step down from roles for BIPOC characters. Scarlett Johansson, who played the live-action Black Widow, came under public scrutiny for playing the role of Major Mira Killian / Motoko Kusanagi in the 2017 movie, Ghost in the Shell. People complained to the actress and makers of the movie that they were whitewashing the film. She refused to step down, but other actors have.
Although he may have some valid points in his later comments, they are in stark contrast to his previous views on blackface just a few months ago. He was completely against it in an interview with The Guardian in February. “You don’t have to do blackface,” the Star Wars icon said. “There are lots of things you can do. Most people in my mind are very provincial and myopic in their vision of the world. All you have to do is use your imagination, and if you’re good at using your imagination, you can do some really interesting stuff without doing the obvious to achieve whatever it is you’re trying to achieve.”
Hopefully, Williams realizes his mistake and apologizes. Till then, here’s hoping his comments aren’t misinterpreted to allow other roles of color to be misappropriated by actors.
What do you think? Should Williams apologize for saying blackface is ok?
Source: The Hollywood Reporter, The Guardian
