# Other Cringeworthy Blackface/Yellowface/Etc. movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [June 23, 2026, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-cringeworthy-blackface-yellowface-etc-movies/1031135 "2026-06-23T15:04:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2026, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-cringeworthy-blackface-yellowface-etc-movies/1031135/221 "2026-07-04T22:14:10Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > The one I saw last night was called _[Kidnapped!](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kidnapped!_(Jeeves_and_Wooster))_ (though it’s also called The Mysterious Stranger) and featured a group of Bertie’s friends as a blackface minstrel show. Hugh Laurie even wears blackface at one point. The episode aired 35 years ago; I would have thought it was unacceptable even then. Bear in mind that a blackface variety program called _The Black and White Minstrel Show_ was still airing on British television in 1978 - and the live touring version didn’t close until **1989**. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2026, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-cringeworthy-blackface-yellowface-etc-movies/1031135/222 "2026-07-04T22:25:32Z")
Still this episode aired in 1991. And I recognize that the storyline is from an old Woodhouse story but it’s not one that aged well. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2026, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-cringeworthy-blackface-yellowface-etc-movies/1031135/223 "2026-07-06T03:53:45Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > a group of Bertie’s friends as a blackface minstrel show. Hugh Laurie even wears blackface at one point. The episode aired 35 years ago; I would have thought it was unacceptable even then. Unacceptable as part of contemporary performance practice in the 1980s, certainly (the notorious _Black and White Minstrel Show_ was getting pushback for the racism of its blackface numbers already in the ‘60s and ‘70s). Evidently considered more okay as a plot point in a show set in the 1920s, though. Kind of like wearing Nazi uniforms, I guess; widely considered gross as a modern costume choice in its own right, but still indispensable when portraying Nazi characters in shows set in that time period. (Not, I hasten to add, that there’s anything indispensable about including a minstrel troupe (who in the original story were actually racially black as well as performing in blackface makeup) in a Bertie Wooster story. As you note, there are plenty of superior Jeeves and Wooster stories to choose from.) ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2026, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-cringeworthy-blackface-yellowface-etc-movies/1031135/224 "2026-07-06T04:42:21Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > Evidently considered more okay as a plot point in a show set in the 1920s, though. In one episode of the 2017 ITV sitcom Timewasters (about a jazz quartet time-traveling back to the 1920s), one character encourages his friend’s butler to start a singing career. The gag at the end is that the butler becomes a successful singer…in blackface. (In this case, it’s a Black TV writer poking fun at blackface.) ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2026, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-cringeworthy-blackface-yellowface-etc-movies/1031135/225 "2026-07-06T06:22:42Z")
His skin is definitely green, and his feet certainly look ranine. But… Frogs tend not to have big caucasian-skinned areas around their mouths. [![](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/villains/images/4/44/Flip-little-nemo.jpg) ](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/villains/images/4/44/Flip-little-nemo.jpg) You know which representation often does? [![](https://www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/c-jw-01-06-plantation-act.jpg) ](https://www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/c-jw-01-06-plantation-act.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2026, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-cringeworthy-blackface-yellowface-etc-movies/1031135/226 "2026-07-06T12:24:58Z")
Although Flip is more of the Paddy stereotype. Let’s not mention Impie… [![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/97/Little_Nemo_the_Imp_2.jpg) ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/97/Little_Nemo_the_Imp_2.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2026, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-cringeworthy-blackface-yellowface-etc-movies/1031135/227 "2026-07-06T13:47:18Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > (Not, I hasten to add, that there’s anything indispensable about including a minstrel troupe (who in the original story were actually racially black as well as performing in blackface makeup) in a Bertie Wooster story. As you note, there are plenty of superior Jeeves and Wooster stories to choose from.) I remember cringing when reading that story. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2026, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-cringeworthy-blackface-yellowface-etc-movies/1031135/228 "2026-07-06T14:11:50Z")
It’s not the same as some of these, but…I watched a 1970 Mission Impossible where white New Jersey dude Robert Ellenstein was given a spray on “tan” to either pass as a middle eastern or an Indian scientist. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2026, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-cringeworthy-blackface-yellowface-etc-movies/1031135/229 "2026-07-06T14:52:49Z")
**Mad Men** S3 E3 features a scene with John Slattery in blackface singing “My Old Kentucky Home”. Obviously it was done to point out the casual racism of the early 60s but it was still kinda cringey to watch. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2026, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-cringeworthy-blackface-yellowface-etc-movies/1031135/230 "2026-07-06T16:30:58Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > a scene with John Slattery in blackface singing “My Old Kentucky Home I wonder how much leeway actors have? Let’s say it’s me. I may have a contract, but there ain’t no way in hell I’m donning blackface. Nope. They can take me to court if they want. (no drag either but I’d have put that in my contract. I’d have probably not considered putting in a “no blackface” clause, because, who’d think that would be a thing?) ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2026, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-cringeworthy-blackface-yellowface-etc-movies/1031135/231 "2026-07-06T16:34:23Z")
Yeah that style was widely used in drawn representations. And of course there were variations by world region — here in PR I recall blackface played straight on TV into the early 70s, and the abovementioned caricaturesque style of black characters kept appearing in Latin American comics past the end of the century ---
**Author:** ![f.coli](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eada6e/32.png) [@f.coli](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/f.coli)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2026, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-cringeworthy-blackface-yellowface-etc-movies/1031135/232 "2026-07-13T13:26:56Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > I remember cringing in 1965 at Olivier’s movie version, which was only partly because of the blackface. Another minor brouhaha arose over Othello when he was portrayed by Anthony Hopkins, in brownface makeup rather than blackface. When the BBC and PBS decided to broadcast every one of Shakespeare plays, the producer wanted to cast James Earl Jones as Othello, but the British actors union threatened to strike if an American was cast. Another notable white actor who played Othello was Patrick Stewart on stage in Washington, DC. However, the production was even more notable because the entire cast, except for Stewart, was made up of black actors. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2026, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-cringeworthy-blackface-yellowface-etc-movies/1031135/233 "2026-07-13T13:33:21Z")
As you note, the scene was meant to demonstrate the racism of not just the character in blackface, but also the people enjoying his performance. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2026, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-cringeworthy-blackface-yellowface-etc-movies/1031135/234 "2026-07-13T13:39:17Z")
Mission Impossible again. This time Pernell Roberts “bronzered” to be a Central American killer Manuel Corba. It’s more subtle than some of these examples. Maybe he just has a good tan? ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2026, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-cringeworthy-blackface-yellowface-etc-movies/1031135/235 "2026-07-13T13:41:09Z")
In the last scene of _Hopscotch_, Walter Matthau’s character shows up disguised in brownface as a bearded and turbaned Sikh. (At least his co-star calls him out for his “ridiculous charade.”) ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2026, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-cringeworthy-blackface-yellowface-etc-movies/1031135/236 "2026-07-13T14:49:30Z")
> [@f.coli](#): > > Another notable white actor who played Othello was Patrick Stewart on stage in Washington, DC. However, the production was even more notable because the entire cast, except for Stewart, was made up of black actors. Didn’t they all play as their own race? That is, I think they called it reverse casting or something like that. Stewart’s Othello was a white man played by a white man, and the rest of the characters were black people played by black people. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2026, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-cringeworthy-blackface-yellowface-etc-movies/1031135/237 "2026-07-13T15:15:34Z")
One that I never saw anyone comment on was Neil Diamond’s acting debut in _The Jazz Singer_ (1980). Based on the same play as the 1927 Al Jolson version, they updated the story 9for which they DID catch a lot of critical flak). I suppose because it _was_ related to the Al Jolson film, and Jolson was known for his blackface work (“Mammy” in particular), someone felt that Diamond ought to do somethin in blackface. Well, it turned out to be very light brownface. But it wasn’t necessary, which makes me wonder why they did it. Although I hadn’t seen any criticism of this scene before, apparently it did exist. Here’s one: [https://forward.com/culture/film-tv/431923/neil-diamond-jazz-singer-blackface-embarrassing-jewish/](https://forward.com/culture/film-tv/431923/neil-diamond-jazz-singer-blackface-embarrassing-jewish/) ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2026, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-cringeworthy-blackface-yellowface-etc-movies/1031135/238 "2026-07-13T18:03:59Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > In the last scene of _Hopscotch_, Walter Matthau’s character shows up disguised in brownface as a bearded and turbaned Sikh. (At least his co-star calls him out for his “ridiculous charade.”) In movie disguises are not in the same category as Blackface. > [@f.coli](#): > > Another notable white actor who played Othello was Patrick Stewart on stage in Washington, DC. However, the production was even more notable because the entire cast, except for Stewart, was made up of black actors. Stunt productions. ---
**Author:** ![f.coli](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eada6e/32.png) [@f.coli](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/f.coli)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2026, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-cringeworthy-blackface-yellowface-etc-movies/1031135/239 "2026-07-13T19:02:03Z")
In the movie Holiday Inn, Bing Crosby has Marjorie Reynolds perform a minstrel show in blackface on Lincoln’s Birthday in order to disguise her from Fred Astaire. Maybe a Saint Patrick’s Day segment would have been a better idea. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2026, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-cringeworthy-blackface-yellowface-etc-movies/1031135/240 "2026-07-13T19:15:54Z")
That scene from 1942 is commonly deleted. I am not sure if that is a good idea, but O agree, it could have been done better. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-cringeworthy-blackface-yellowface-etc-movies/1031135.md?page=11) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-cringeworthy-blackface-yellowface-etc-movies/1031135.md?page=13)