All Things Old Hollywood: Blackface At The Oscars

Courtesy Franchesca Ramsey and Jezebel.com

By Guest Contributor Kendra James

Another Monday, another post-awards show morning, another day of waking up and asking myself if I really just saw what I thought I saw. Because there’s absolutely no way that I really saw Billy Crystal in blackface on national television the night before.

And for all I know, maybe I didn’t. No one’s talking about it. It didn’t seem  to have made any morning news show headlines. I didn’t hear Kelly Ripa and Neil Patrick Harris mention it and I missed seeing what the women of The View had to say, but given Whoopi’s track record with the hot topics of the day I’m guessing I wouldn’t have been impressed.

Oh, but wait, a quick dive into the comments section at Jezebel (why do I do this to myself?) confirms that I did not, in fact, dream up what I saw last night. Not only did it happen, but it seems to have already been rationalised by the general public. You see, blackface is apparently no longer offensive, especially if it’s not being done to intentionally hurt anyone’s feelings. We’re in post-racial America! These things no longer carry the weight they once did. There’s no need to analyse it to death. It was just a sketch!

Foolishness like this is making it really hard for me to get my fill of pretty red-carpet dresses.

It took me a moment to even realise that Crystal was in blackface during the sketch, partially because I wasn’t aware of his history with the Sammy Davis Jr impression and because for some reason, I really always am in genuine disbelief when producers approve this stuff. For someone viewing his ‘impression’ with fresh eyes, it was jarring at best.

Here’s a night where two women of color are nominated for major awards, the audience is actually looking fairly diverse (I don’t know why Diddy was there, but I’m not mad at him), and you have at least two Black men in attendance who can probably still vaguely remember a time when blackface on film was a fairly common occurrence (Morgan Freeman was born in 1937 while James Earl Jones was born in 1931; movies like Babes on Broadway, featuring Judy Garland in blackface, were still coming out in 1941. Aural blackface favorite Amos ‘n Andy was on the radio into the 1950s).

Once I realised that Crystal had gone there, I figured an apology would be quick in coming. The perfect opportunity seemed to present itself after Octavia Spencer left the stage upon winning her best supporting actress award for The Help. “That moment for Octavia is what the Oscars is all about, and I’m looking out into the audience now,” he could have said. “and I realise that given the audience and the importance of the night, blackface for humour’s sake was an inappropriate way to go. My sincere apologies.”

And what did we get instead?

That moment for Octavia is what the Oscars is all about. I love that movie a lot … When I came out of “The Help” I wanted to hug the first black woman that I saw, which from Beverly Hills is a 45-minute drive.

That seemed to be par for the course considering the rest of the evening, unfortunately. Each joke made at Octavia Spencer and Viola Davis’ behalf was racially tinged. Between the blackface and the roles the two women were nominated for (which, having not seen the film, I don’t begrudge them for at all) it could have very well been the 1939 Oscars all over again (see: nominations of Gone With The Wind and Babes in Arms).

Page 1 of 3 | Next page