Homie Spumoni: the blackface skit that became a feature film

by Carmen Van Kerckhove

Karen just alerted me to this gem of a straight-to-DVD movie, coming out this week. Here’s the description:

Meet Renato: a pasta-loving, Dean Martin-worshipping Italian-American living la dolce vita and working at his papa’s Little Italy deli. Until his African-American birth parents show up, claiming he’s their long-lost son Leroy. Now that he’s suddenly black, “Leroy” tries his best to shoot hoops and dig hip-hop, but all he really wants is for everyone to just get along!

Wow. I don’t know who should be more offended? Italian-Americans or black people? Or those who are both? Check out the trailer here.

I did a search for “Homie Spumoni” on YouTube, hoping to find an embeddable trailer for this film, and stumbled across this video from one of the writers. So apparently, this movie was based on a blackface skit. Doesn’t that just say it all?