I had to literally rewind my Tivo during the 84th Annual Academy Awards to confirm Billy Crystal's offensive joke about black women in Hollywood. Post Octavia Spencer's Supporting Actress win for The Help, the Oscar host returned from commercial break:
I loved that movie (The Help)... when I saw it, I wanted to hug the first black woman that I saw. Which from Beverly Hills is about a 45 minute drive.
Tweeters responded:
@moviefone: Billy Crystal: Race and old jokes. Yep, this is what you wanted, Hollywood.
@sonshinewiley: Billy crystals comment was both offensive and prejudiced regarding black women in Hollywood! #NoBueno #Oscars
@VanObserver: Billy Crystal makes a really weird #racist joke after Octavia Spencer's win for The Help.
@mytitleguy: RT @patstagepage: RT @MadeFromClay: Yo... did anyone hear that terribly racist joke by Billy Crystal a few minutes ago? yep - the world did.
@jimmymcarthur: A fine way to set the tone Billy Crystal. Follow up a win for The Help with an inappropriate racist joke. #oscars
@Khalv612: Billy Crystal is not funny!!! The racist joke was just uncalled for?!
@thewanderingjew: Will Billy Crystal apologize for the racist joke? #oscars
@JohnTrowbridge: Billy Crystal will kill this buzz with a slightly racist joke #oscars
@Avemarie80: Me too @suzieq23: Was that a racist joke Billy Crystal gave after that great win...... Ughhhhhhh". I thought so too!! Awful."
How were Oscar writers comfortable enough to write a joke like that? A host has a script -- and especially in the case of a big awards show like the Oscars -- there are several "copy check points." Crystal ultimately delivered (he could have refused), but I believe the scriptwriters understood how highly inappropriate that joke would be. But they just didn't care enough to leave it out, and every message has meaning.
It bothers me that none of the writers stopped to think about the feelings of the other black actors and actresses in the room. It bothers me that some in the audience were so de-sensitized that they laughed out loud. It bothers me that no one considered the sensitivity of the situation -- Octavia Spencer had just won an Academy Award for playing a maid, a role she's defended to those who feel blacks are rewarded with Oscar only when their character is subservient/enforces a stereotype onscreen. It bothers me that no one will be accountable for writing such insensitive copy. It bothers me to think about struggling black actors and actresses who fall in love with an industry that lets them down. It bothers me that I'm writing this blog in 2012... that society is still recovering from the damage done by bigots who advocated racial segregation. It bothers me that the Academy would go so far as to emphasize the sentiment that black women are invisible in Hollywood, as far as they're concerned.
While Oscar writers found humor in all this, I didn't get the joke.
This post first appeared on Global Grind.
Follow Kim Kane on Twitter: www.twitter.com/kimkane1
Sheril Antonio: Where Is the Help for Black Filmmakers in Hollywood?
Jon Chattman: Bring Some Chutzpah Back: Billy's 9th and Last Oscar Telecast
And what Kim Kane seems to be missing is that the joke was intended as a criticism and social commentary on the continued inequalities between blacks and whites. In other words, it was a subtle demand for greater equality! This wasn't an anti-black joke. This was a pro-black joke!
This is also a case of double-bind thinking, commonly known as "damned if you do and damned if you don't." Billy Crystal was pointing out the inherent injustice of racial inequality. Now he's being accuse of racism for doing that. He's screwed either way.
African-Americans are sending mixed messages to society by making these kinds of accusations. The confusion hurts race relations. In the end it's counter-productive to the effort to create more racial equality. And of course blacks are hurt by this worse than whites are. So it's also self-detructive when African-Americans level these kinds of accusations when they're not justified.
Billy Crystal doesn't deserve to be accused of racism. Any African-American who can't see that is blinded by their own racial biases.
This author is lost in a cloud of political awareness and political correctness. The joke was funny also so even if it had been racists I'd personally not give a damn as long as it's funny. If it's not funny then I'd be bothered.
Everyone needs to calm down and stop taking themselves so seriously, nobody takes you seriously why would you ? Your not special, your like the other millions of American Mutts. We're all Mutts. We're not a pure breed we're not a dog we're not delicate orchids we're the stuff that fought World War I and World War II and won. We're the ones who stormed Iwo Jima, faced Batan, gritted it out in Afghanistan, fought for employee rights and unions with blood in the streets. I don't give a damn if the author's panties are curled over a silly ass joke. Get over yourself.
"Perhaps, however I'm sure you were not born into a poor income community. So I'm gonna have to say you really have no idea of the true issues, causes and effects of the black community."
Me:
First, one doesn't have to be born there to understand on a cognitive level. Second, all of the problems in those communities would be improved if African-Americans actually practiced what they preached, about all being brothers and sisters. That's one of the biggest hypocrisies of black culture, because they seldom treat each other that way.
Black kids who do well in school are routinely criticized and even bullied. Worse than that, they have their race stolen from them by other blacks, who accuse them of being white. And if they live in a black community, this is nothing less than stealing their *humanness* from them, because they're considered no longer a part of the community in which they live. They're outcasts.
In short, many black people, themselves, don't seem to have an understanding of the struggle; because they're trying to prevent other black people from getting ahead. How can anyone who is *impeding* the struggle be considered to be a part of the struggle?
Is there anything that doesn't offend black people anymore? I mean really, when you sensationalize the trivial stuff it makes it all seem trivial after awhile
It was an unfunny joke, that's all.