Tom Hanks Blackface Video Criticized By Conservatives As Racist

Posted: 03/21/2012 8:19 am Updated: 03/21/2012 8:19 am

Tom Hanks is facing criticism over a 2004 video, which conservatives are calling racist and hypocritical.

The clip, unearthed by the Daily Caller, features the Oscar winner and Eagles rocker Glenn Frey at a fundraiser for St. Matthew’s Parish School. During the event, they poke fun at right wingers for being culturally insensitive, while -- ironically -- investment banker James Montgomery roamed around the stage dressed in blackface.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is as close to diversity as we’ll get at St. Matthew’s," said Frey.

"A celebrity in our midst. Who would have though that Bill O'Reilly would join us?" joked Hanks.

Conservatives are now calling on Barack Obama to drop Hanks as the narrator for the President's documentary, "The Road We've Traveled."

After the video was released, Hanks released an apology.

"I was blindsided when one of the parents got up on the stage in a costume that was hideously offensive then and is hideously offensive now,” said the actor. "What is usually a night of food and drink for a good cause was, regrettably, marred by an appalling few moments."

Hanks, who starred in 2011 Best Picture nominee "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close," is set to appear in the film "Cloud Atlas," this October.

[The DailyCaller via THR]

Earlier on HuffPost:

FOLLOW MOVIEFONE

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Tom Hanks is facing criticism over a 2004 video, which conservatives are calling racist and hypocritical. The clip, unearthed by the Daily Caller, features the Oscar winner and Eagles rocker Glenn ...
Tom Hanks is facing criticism over a 2004 video, which conservatives are calling racist and hypocritical. The clip, unearthed by the Daily Caller, features the Oscar winner and Eagles rocker Glenn ...
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Andrewcranky
03:01 PM on 03/23/2012
Me thinks the right protests to much.
I didn't see or hear anything offesive in this vidio.
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
xnicholasz
live & let live
06:06 PM on 03/22/2012
I did not hear anything offensive from Hanks, so ''WHAT'S THE BEEF'' !!! On the other
hand almost anytime you can hear offensive and ''FLAT-OUT-LIES'', from
''FOX NOISE'' !!!
''THE'RE GETTING DESPERATE, PEOPLE'' and It's much earlier
than the last Presidental Election.

''ONE MAY SEE THE END FROM THE BEGINNING''.....especially with the future
of ''THE REBUGNANT/TEABAGGIN NATION''.......The GOP has finally hitched It's
future to a ''KNOW-NOTHING-EXTREME-RACIST-FACTION'' of America that's even
a smaller minority than the GOP !!!

NICK ''X''.
This user has chosen to opt out of the Badges program
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12:13 PM on 03/22/2012
He SHOULD apologize for his support of Obama the Arrogant. If Obama is for it, it must be bad for the USA!
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
debanne123
12:11 PM on 03/22/2012
I don't believe that Tom Hanks would do anything to hurt anyone. The purpose of this video was meant to draw attention to those WHO are insensitive.
12:02 PM on 03/22/2012
schmucks are into their heritage or ethnic totems, every one is a sinner and the wages of sin are death. selah
11:50 AM on 03/22/2012
Apparently the blindisiding wasn't too bad as he was able to joke about it.
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
cooky3
12:13 PM on 03/22/2012
So what would you do? It was a no-win situation that Hanks tried to handle with humor. Unfortunately, I know many people who would see no problem whatsoever with a black-face costume. They are creepy people who create embarrassing situations.
12:26 PM on 03/22/2012
Thats not what I was saying. He is apologizing for the situation, not his actions. All he had to say was that it was an offensive moment, he and others handled in inappropriately, and that he is sorry. Instead, he apologizes for the incident, throws the blame on the other guy, doesn't acknowledge he made a joke, and thats that. Taking responsibility tends to go a little farther with me, but thats me.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
thagreatestmanalive
11:49 AM on 03/22/2012
I've heard a couple of pathetic things about Hanks. I guess everyone is different at times.
11:38 AM on 03/22/2012
ANY FROM DAILYCALLER IS SUSPECT. FREAK OUTFIT
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
letitbeme
get over it tea
11:36 AM on 03/22/2012
I repeat' since when does a teabagger care about anyone making a racist comment?
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12:14 PM on 03/22/2012
You don't have a clue, do you!!
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midenham
Take my guns? You MUST have a hole in your head!
12:36 PM on 03/22/2012
You ought to lose the hatred and actually look into what most tea party people stand for. If you still think the MSM painting them as racists is correct, you haven't done much personal research. Quit drinking the kool-aid and save some room for tea.
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
letitbeme
get over it tea
12:50 PM on 03/22/2012
no more tea for me in this lifetime. it is disgusting.
11:20 AM on 03/22/2012
This was a Catholic fund raiser. Why am I not surprised
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
mojobujak
11:09 AM on 03/22/2012
Oh, it wold be funny if it wasn't the core of liberal hypocrisy - all total racists, while callling fellow moderates, conservative Americans names - If only posters could "get" the double standard and force them to think about something that is not forced fed in their bubble world. Tired of fake "apologies" - why can't liberals accept and if not respect, not joke of the 65%+ who live happily between NYC and LA, but, hello - MAKE UP America and are your fans? Astounding - "inThe clip, unearthed by the Daily Caller, features the Oscar winner and Eagles rocker Glenn Frey at a fundraiser for St. Matthew’s Parish School. During the event, they poke fun at right wingers for being culturally insensitive, while -- ironically -- investment banker James Montgomery roamed around the stage dressed in blackface.sults".
Hope my precious time makes one person THINK.
dhartson
I don't need no "stinking badges"!
11:02 AM on 03/22/2012
Just another Lib! I wont watch anything he does!
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SemperVeritas
Truth be told
11:26 AM on 03/22/2012
like you ever did.
11:28 AM on 03/22/2012
I agree wholeheartedly!
This user has chosen to opt out of the Badges program
11:02 AM on 03/22/2012
Just another Obama Muslim lover Communist. F U hanks!
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SemperVeritas
Truth be told
11:27 AM on 03/22/2012
Go back to bed.
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02:30 PM on 03/22/2012
you commie fool........................LMAO
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Edwin Keever Jr
Go to Face Book Mr. Ed The person, not the horse
10:46 AM on 03/22/2012
I guess Tom Hanks went from black face to red face!
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05:15 PM on 03/21/2012
"In 1993, Ted Danson donned blackface, said the "n'" word more than a dozen times, and ate a watermelon at a Friars Club roast for Whoopi Goldberg, his girlfriend at the time. Talk show personality Montel Williams stormed out of the event, and for weeks afterward, the news media reported on the fallout as Goldberg tried to explain the caustic traditions of the club's roasts and why she wasn't offended by Danson's performance. ....another hypocritcal democrat.