Let Actors Do Blackface, Says ...

“When he did Othello, I fell out laughing,” [Billy Dee] Williams said of Olivier on Sunday’s episode of Club Random With Bill Maher. In the 1965 film, Olivier wore blackface to play the film’s titular character. “He stuck his ass out and walked around because Black people are supposed to have big asses.”

Advertisement

Maher replied to Williams’ comment by saying, “Today, they would never let you do that.”


Williams then asked Maher, “Why?” to which Maher asked, in shock: “Blackface?”

“Why not? You should do it,” Williams said. “If you’re an actor, you should do anything you want to do.”

Ed Morrissey

I've never seen Olivier's Othello, but if that's how Sir Laurence played him, that's ridiculous. The title character in the Shakespearean tragedy was a Moor, a black man of Moroccan and/or Andalusian heritage, not from sub-Saharan Africa -- and even for the latter, it would be a ridiculous stereotype. 

But otherwise, yes, Williams is correct. Acting is about pretending to be someone else, not about being straitjacketed into your own identity. 

Join the conversation as a VIP Member

Trending on HotAir Videos

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement