I’m somewhat embarrassed (although not quite as embarrassed as pbbth (you know I love you, girl!)) to admit that I thought Eminem was black. Which is particularly silly since he sounds more like a white rapper in the first song I ever heard of his (“My Name Is”) than any other song of his I’ve heard since.
ETA: Oh, and I agree with Lamia about Catherine Zeta-Jones.
I still think of Samuel R Delany as a white guy, even having met him.
Just listening to his voice, I thought Kermit The Frog was white and then a friend set me straight. “Haven’t you ever heard his song, ‘It’s Not Easy Being Green’,?” And I accepted he was not white.
Then I heard Frank Sinatra do the song. I’m confused again.
No, and he’s decidedly Christian in beliefs, too. Levi is his middle name. “Pugh” I guess was just too hard to pronounce and invited too many jokes to keep in the stage name.
I bet when Ray Charles recorded it, it really confused you.
Of course, Ray might not have known any differently…
What do you mean? He was!
It was a different time you understand.
I always assumed Grant Fuhr from the Edmonton Oilers was white. Actually biracial. Ditto Johnny Mathis.
And not a case of “different race” per se, but watching Family Feud when I was a kid, I always assumed Richard Dawson was a Texan. No idea why.
While this isn’t quite as bad as thinking that Neil Armstrong was black, for some stupid reason when I was young I thought that Chekov on Star Trek had an Irish accent. I had no idea that Chekov was a Russian name, and I just heard his accent as being Irish. When I grew up and heard it, I was shocked at how I ever could have thought it was Irish. Well, maybe it is as bad as thinking Neil Armstrong was black.
I only recently found out on this board that Paula Abdul wasn’t black, but Jewish - Syrian Jewish from her father’s side. I guess I just don’t expect to find many Sephardic Jews in America (Hank Azaria is another one who surprised me).