# When did a white guy wearing black makeup became unacceptable? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 21, 2011, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-a-white-guy-wearing-black-makeup-became-unacceptable/568411 "2011-01-21T02:54:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2011, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-a-white-guy-wearing-black-makeup-became-unacceptable/568411/41 "2011-01-21T17:05:46Z")
I don’t know about any criticism of that Patrick Stewart Othello. I’m not sure why there would have been any, though. He wasn’t pretending to be black. They cast the play in a way that allowed a white guy to play Othello without makeup and maintaing his status as an outsider. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2011, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-a-white-guy-wearing-black-makeup-became-unacceptable/568411/42 "2011-01-28T04:23:24Z")
Then-House Minority Leader Bob Michel (R-Ill.) took some heat in 1988 when he fondly recalled the minstrel shows of his youth: [Jet - Google Books](http://books.google.com/books?id=5a4DAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA15&lpg=PA15&dq=robert+michel+minstrel+blackface&source=bl&ots=8FrXzDA7nr&sig=VBFa9lqZlpsnx1oNkK0sPXqig0M&hl=en&ei=eig7TfrDKIO78gb-nrXjCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=10&ved=0CFYQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=robert%20michel%20minstrel%20blackface&f=false) ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2011, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-a-white-guy-wearing-black-makeup-became-unacceptable/568411/43 "2011-01-28T05:04:13Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Downey in _Tropic Thunder_ was actually playing a white character who himself was an actor playing a black character. It was a satirization of Hollywood egos and actors’ stunts to win Oscars. He was the dude dressed as a dude disguised as another dude! Anyway, ahem… _The Minstrel Show to the past has gone His glory days are all behind him. His racist charms he hath girded on. Lest he smiles we shall not find him._ And so forth. ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2011, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-a-white-guy-wearing-black-makeup-became-unacceptable/568411/44 "2011-01-28T05:19:12Z")
I remember the first time I saw Darrell Hammond do Jesse Jackson on SNL I kinda caught my breath and wondered if this was “OK” or not. Was sorta surprised when it turned out to be a “no biggie” thing. Jackson was one of Hammond’s weaker bits and it didn’t get much play anyhow. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2011, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-a-white-guy-wearing-black-makeup-became-unacceptable/568411/45 "2011-01-28T21:58:51Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Funny isn’t everything. IEHO. What does _IEHO_ mean? Neither Google’s define function nor the urban dictionary know. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2011, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-a-white-guy-wearing-black-makeup-became-unacceptable/568411/46 "2011-01-28T23:56:50Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > What does _IEHO_ mean? Neither Google’s define function nor the urban dictionary know. That’s because it’s not a standard abbreviation, but a riff on IMHO: In Everybody’s Humble Opinion ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2011, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-a-white-guy-wearing-black-makeup-became-unacceptable/568411/47 "2011-01-29T07:56:52Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Does that matter? Armisen isn’t black, Obama is. I didn’t know Armisen’s background but I don’t think it’s better or worse if you get extra minority points. [La Raza](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_raza), the HIspanic cultural identity, describes people of a mixture of white, African and indiginous American bloodlines. Armisen, who likely has some Black ancestry (his mother is Venezuelan), has more “right” to play Obama than, say, a young Chevy Chase would. And he resembles and impersonates the man a lot more/ better than Kenan Thompson or Jay Pharaoh, which trumps most other considerations. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2011, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-a-white-guy-wearing-black-makeup-became-unacceptable/568411/48 "2011-02-01T01:46:38Z")
> [@sachertorte](#): > > Random memories: > > The very first time I learned what ‘blackface’ was was on a TV comedy with Nell Carter. She played nanny for a white family. One of the daughters convinced the youngest son to dance in blackface at Nell’s church. And then we all learned how very very bad blackface is. I’d estimate this as an early 80’s show. Based on this I’d also estimate that that is the time when blackface==bad became common. In other words, they wouldn’t make a very special show about it if it was commonly known and generally accepted would they? I can’t imagine a modern show addressing blackface in one of their shows. > [@BrainGlutton](#): > > I don’t remember the name of the show but I remember the episode. He began to sing Al Jolson’s “Swanee” and abruptly got pulled off stage. Right after, the kid said, “What’s wrong?! I was imitating Al Jolson! He was a black singer!” (This kid being no older than eight and not up on certain facts of cultural history.) The show was Gimme A Break, and the kid was Joey Lawrence, who was basically the Nell Carter character’s adopted son, not a son in the family she was working for. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2011, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-a-white-guy-wearing-black-makeup-became-unacceptable/568411/49 "2011-02-01T15:41:50Z")
In one of the Little House books, Laura Ingalls Wilder described her father being in a minstrel show. I kept waiting for Michael Landon to pull it off on the TV show, but it never happened. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-a-white-guy-wearing-black-makeup-became-unacceptable/568411.md?page=2)