Blacks fail to see humor in Ted Danson's blackface tribute to Whoopi Goldberg - Cover Story

Jet, Nov 1, 1993

Instead of cooling off, the controversy surrounding Ted Danson's blackface tribute to Whoopi Goldberg during the recent Friars Club roast has intensified as many Black individuals and organizations come foward to announce that they fail to see the humor in the racially-charged skit.

They have sent scathing letters to the Friars Club in New York blasting Danson's appearance in blackface and huge white lips. The actor's routine used the word "nigger" a number of times and made references to the sexual lives of Ms. Goldberg and him.

Radio talk shows have had their switchboards working overtime accommodating the comments about the routine. The L.A. Times ran an editorial criticizing the performance, pointing out that "race is no laughing, matter. "The |N' word, no matter the context or who speaks it, is not something to joke about."

A video store owner in South L.A. used a hammer to destroy all tapes featuring Ted Danson and Whoopi Goldberg individually and in the movie they made together, Made In America. He said he will not stock any more until a public apology is offered.

Talk show host Montel Williams, a member of the Friars Club for three months, resigned his membership and walked off the dais protesting the skit. He said he "was confused as to whether or not I was at a Friars event or at a rally for the KKK and Aryan Nation." He issued a statement that read: "As a society, we must explore our collective conscience and begin thinking about the consequences of these kind of unintentional racial remarks. Some may find this brand of so-called humor funny. I do not. Some may think blackface is funny I do not. Some may think sexually explicit jokes prefaced by and followed by radial epithets are funny. I do not, roast or otherwise. While I do not believe Ted Danson is a racist and I don't believe he or Whoopi Goldberg meant to be offensive to anyone, if I had known that their intent was to go that far, I would not have attended the Friars Club Roast. In leaving, I simply followed my conscience."

Syndicated columnist Carl Rowan wrote: "The overriding issue here is Goldberg's obvious lack of concern about her impact upon America's young people, especially Black girls who are being enslaved every day by illicit or promiscuous sex. Goldberg's foul mouth wounds Black women who are being cheated and humiliated by leaders of this society who disrespect them and abuse them... So Goldberg told Danson to show up in blackface? That only tells us how grossly insensitive she is."

Members of the National Political Congress of Black Women sent a letter to the Friars Club stating that they "were appalled and offended by the blackface antics and remarks of Ted Danson... Beyond the personalities involved in the Friars Roast last week, the antics of roaster Ted Danson and honoree Whoopi Goldberg had serious moral implications for African Americans and our strong religious heritage. The use of the most vile, profane, deprecating language in describing African Americans in general and African-American women in particular is patently wrong."

Songstress Dionne Warwick, a member of NPCBW, sent a strongly-worded letter to the organization's head, C. Delores Tucker, stating: "I am angered to think that something of this nature was allowed to happen. As a member of your commission, I am deflated to think that a member of our entertainment community, one who has been thought of as proud, intelligent, and most importantly, an African-American woman supportive of all positive progress being made within the African-American communities, especially giving our children the ideal way to look within each other finding the way to express the beauty, understanding, and the pride of being African American, Whoopi Goldberg has become a true disappointment.

"With regard to Ted Danson, I will not give my brain the task of dignifying stupidity... What could Whoopi have been thinking? ... Obviously not much!" Ms. Warwick is also a member of the Friars.

Besides not finding humor in the skit, some said the whole affair demonstrated cultural as well as historical insensitivity. Sandra Evers-Manly, president of the Beverly Hills/Hollywood NAACP, the branch that closely monitors Hollywood's relationship with minorities, told Jet: "It brought back memories of things that have not been dealt with. Blackface is something derogatory to a lot of people. It was offensive. It's a painful memory that you don't bring up. It was offensive back when (White actor) Al Jolson did it and it is not a laughing matter now."

Ms. Goldberg said she helped write the skit and got the makeup artist that did the blackface for her companion Danson. She kept urging people to realize and understand that roastings are raw, x-rated affairs and totally private.

Award-winning filmmaker Spike Lee blatantly disagreed. "Whoopi's been on the warpath defending this thing; I just think she's confused. There's just no way she can defend what transpired," he opined.

The New York Times ran an article on the whole affair and seemed to question whether or not Ms. Goldberg did actually help write the material or as they wrote "was Ms. Goldberg pulling a Tammy Wynette, as some said, and |standing by her man?'" Their article also questioned why Goldberg and Danson, two of Hollywood's most socially-conscious performers didn't know better than to approach such a subject.