# Student wears "black face" for Tiger Woods costume, is it racism? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 9, 2002, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-wears-black-face-for-tiger-woods-costume-is-it-racism/108179 "2002-05-09T22:40:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2002, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-wears-black-face-for-tiger-woods-costume-is-it-racism/108179/41 "2002-05-12T18:36:29Z")
> [@](#): > > Lawrence was very lucky not to get fired. An entire lifetime of work was nearly wiped out by a single poorly-constructed sentence spoken at a meeting. Poor misunderstood Lawrence! He didn’t mean that blacks and Latinos were genetically inferior at all! Everyone was insane to believe he had ever said such a thing and we should be ASHAMED of damaging that man’s reputation. I wasn’t at Rutgers during the controversy, but I’m happy the joker resigned. He wasn’t really a good president. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2002, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-wears-black-face-for-tiger-woods-costume-is-it-racism/108179/42 "2002-05-12T18:48:47Z")
> [@](#): > > I am interested to know why you found the event offensive? Is it due to the historical connotations of black face, or for other reasons? I’m not **drayton** , but I can understand why someone would feel annoyed at honoring Tiger Woods that way. If golf was an all-black sport instead of a nearly all-white sport, would the guy in question still have felt the need to color his skin brown? Or would he have honored Tigers Woods in another fashion, perhaps by wearing the same golfing shoes. Do you think white fans of Michael Jordan darken their skin to look like him? By making your skin “brown”, you draw attention to the fact that Tiger is a black golfer, a novelty act. I don’t see how this is offensive, but it definitely is irritating. ---
**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2002, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-wears-black-face-for-tiger-woods-costume-is-it-racism/108179/43 "2002-05-12T20:28:13Z")
If I were trying to look like Michael Jordan, of course I would darken my skin and wear a bald cap. If I were trying to look like Michael Jackson, I would lighten my skin and wear a fake nose. If I were trying to look like a woman, I would wear a wig and put oranges in my shirt. How can you try to look like someone if you ignore some of their most instantly recognizable features? Anyone can tell at a glance that you aren’t Tiger Woods if he’s black and you’re white. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2002, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-wears-black-face-for-tiger-woods-costume-is-it-racism/108179/44 "2002-05-12T22:02:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by monstro \* > \*\*By making your skin “brown”, you draw attention to the fact that Tiger is a black golfer, a novelty act. I don’t see how this is offensive, but it definitely is irritating. \*\* See, I don’t see it like that: it’s copying his physical characteristics, which involves having darker skin colour than the aforementioned protagonist. I think that someone with a lighter skin colour who wanted to pretend to be someone with a darker skin colour, or vice versa, would tend to change the colour of their skin. I am certain that Tiger Woods, being one of the greatest golfers that has ever lived, would be self-confident enough to cope with the actual physical truth of skin colour. That he is one of the first people with a skin colour different to the majority of people who play golf in the United States - amateur of professional - is something to be lauded and celebrated. Especially given that one’s skin colour makes no odds, one way or another, to one’s abilities (to me, at least). ---
**Author:** ![Tsubaki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@Tsubaki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tsubaki)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2002, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-wears-black-face-for-tiger-woods-costume-is-it-racism/108179/45 "2002-05-13T02:42:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Beastal \* > \*\*This exact same thing happenned here in Melbourne, Australia on a television show called “The Footy Show”. An Aboriginal was supposed to appear as a guest on the show but for one reason or another, failed to turn up. So one of the co-hosts went out the back during the final ad break, painted his face black, and when the show returned from the ad break, he walked back out and said “Sorry I’m late fella’s”. > > All week there was a media debate about whether or not what he did was inappropriate, and eventually he apologised to the footballer in question, but you could tell he did it very begrudgingly. \*\* You’ve GOT to be KIDDING! Lemme guess, it was Sam, wasn’t it? If it WAS Sam Newman who did it, then I bet half the uproar was because HE did it. So did he also say the “Sorry I’m late fella’s” in the stereotypical Aboriginal accent? If he did, then I reckon he went too far. ---
**Author:** ![Tenebras](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@Tenebras](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tenebras)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2002, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-wears-black-face-for-tiger-woods-costume-is-it-racism/108179/46 "2002-05-13T03:16:03Z")
Ok, the first paragraph of the OP confuses me: > [@](#): > > A student at my university came to a golf themed bar event dressed as Tiger Woods **complete with brown paint on his face.** \ The university got wind of it and now the student is facing expulsion for **wearing “black face.”** The local news ran a short piece on it as well. Emphasis was of course added by yours truly. My problem is that it seems like there’s two things being described here, first the student has brown paint on his face, as someone would wear who wished to look like a dark skinned person, because it’s cheaper than the tanning bed. On the other hand, wearing “blackface” is something completely different. As I recall, Ted Danson got in trouble for this a few years ago whilst roasting Whoopie Goldberg. (hehe… I said whoopie) I was unable to find pictures of people online who painted themselves brown, but here’s Al Jolson in “black face”: [http://us.imdb.com/ImageView?u=http%3A//images.amazon.com/images/P/6302120594.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg](http://us.imdb.com/ImageView?u=http%3A//images.amazon.com/images/P/6302120594.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg) This is not the same as painting yourself brown, and if this is what the guy at the party did, then I can see that there’s something to worry about, if he painted himself brown then… well who cares? Tiger Woods is brown. It’s not like he should have showed up with a golf club and said “Duh, I’m Tiger Woods.” Although, I suppose it would have been sufficient to show up with a sign around his neck reading “I’ve got big balls.” 😉 (Check the link before you flame me, thanks.) Link: [http://www.danbern.com/fiftyeggslyrics.html#tigerwoods](http://www.danbern.com/fiftyeggslyrics.html#tigerwoods) Tenebras ---
**Author:** ![Beastal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Beastal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beastal)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2002, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-wears-black-face-for-tiger-woods-costume-is-it-racism/108179/47 "2002-05-13T06:25:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tsubaki \* > \*\* > > You’ve GOT to be KIDDING! Lemme guess, it was Sam, wasn’t it? > > If it WAS Sam Newman who did it, then I bet half the uproar was because HE did it. > > So did he also say the “Sorry I’m late fella’s” in the stereotypical Aboriginal accent? If he did, then I reckon he went too far. \*\* Yeah, it was Sammy. And no, he didn’t make his comment in the “stereotypical” Aboriginal accent as far as I can recall. Incidentally, the footballer in question was Nicky Winmar. There’s a reference to it in this article: [http://www.realfooty.theage.com.au/news/2001/08/09/FFXXBUBF5QC.html](http://www.realfooty.theage.com.au/news/2001/08/09/FFXXBUBF5QC.html) The article speaks of another ‘incident’ concerning Sam Newman that you may or may not have heard about. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-wears-black-face-for-tiger-woods-costume-is-it-racism/108179.md?page=2)