Absolutely. But that doesn’t mean I can’t hope for “someday.”
I think it has less to do with the long dead tradition of minstrel shows and more to do with the fact that people with dark skin are still shit on regularly by the white majority. To quote Flavor Flav “I got a right to be hostile, my people are being persecuted”; it’s still a raw nerve, and rightly so. But maybe our grandchildren won’t care, because the whole concept of racism will be alien to them.
Someday.
Your phrasing suggested that people who take issue with white actors portraying black people today aren’t being “adult” about it and that turning down Joseph Fiennes for the role would be akin to an oppressive form of censorship.
(Sorry, I added to my reply while you were replying.)
I think that in some cases it isn’t particularly mature. Is Fiennes mocking MJ because of his heritage, is he portraying a racial stereotype of African-Americans? It doesn’t appear so. I’d say the very idea of white actors taking roles from black actors is more upsetting, that’s a bigger issue for me here.
If the Jackson estate is offended for those reasons I can understand: even the semblance of racism is enough to upset people (again, with good reason), but I don’t think the writers/producers/directors/actors here are trying to belittle anyone along racial lines. I wonder what MJ himself would say.
See, it’s not about races
Just places
Faces
Where your blood comes from
Is were your space is
I’ve seen the bright get duller
I’m not going to spend my life being a color
Reminds me of the 90’s folk song “Jesus, John and Elvis” by Dick Siegel. It starts:
Jesus, John and Elvis
Son of God, President and pelvis
These are the big three …
If you ask me.
Also contains such lines as “Jesus had great hair, you can see it in the pictures …”
Thanks–I looked, and found exactly what you’re talking about. I stand corrected!
Here’s a pretty detailed Huff post article on it. You’re right, it does seem to be mostly a bullshit report. Strangely, I can find a million reports on the original story, but very little on the subsequent debunking. No wonder I missed it.
I don’t understand how they could have gone ahead and not be aware it would raise a stink.
Michael Jackson presents a very unique aspect of how we discuss race in America. Any time a white person puts on blackface makeup it’s racially charged, but a white can portray Michael Jackson without black makeup and it’s believable (ironically they might have to put on white makeup), so then is that the same as wearing blackface? There are a lot of Michael Jackson impersonators out there who are white (and female too, which brings up MJ’s androgyny), and it’s not controversial. They aren’t mocking his race, they are paying tribute to an icon.
Harmony Korine cast a Caucasian to play MJ (or I guess an MJ impersonator) in “Mister Lonely” and I don’t recall any outrage (a quick web search doesn’t bring up anything either), plus the film was done when MJ was still alive, so it’s ironic that MJ’s children stop this “Urban Myths” episode when Jackson himself didn’t do anything to stop “Mister Lonely.”
Tilda is my favorite of all the Bowie personas.
I recommend Maureen Orth’s series of articles on Michael Jackson:
It’s a pretty depressing read.
Oh, I don’t know if it was completely disgusting. Is there anything about child molestation in it?
Offstage, he could not escape his tragic flaw.
tragic flaw
tragic flaw
tragic flaw
But oh, this is one of those times we can completely doubt the accusers. He had a sad childhood, a sad adult life, was a famous entertainer, and was black. Besides, his supposed victims were kids, not grown women, so it’s okay to dismiss their allegations as obvious bullshit.
If I never again hear anything about Michael Jackson, it will be too soon.
I don’t think the accusations against Jackson were all obvious bullshit (certainly there were things worthy of further investigation) but I don’t think there’s been anywhere near as much credible evidence against Jackson as Cosby.
The one case against Jackson which was deemed credible enough to take to court was the 2005 trial where he was accused of molesting a 13-year old boy, and that one had every appearance of coached testimony from the boy’s grandmother. [From Wikipedia]:
The first alleged sexual act was of Jackson masturbating Gavin on Jackson’s bed. Jackson allegedly initiated the molestation by urging the accuser to masturbate, telling him that boys who didn’t “might rape a girl.” However, in a police interview before the trial, Gavin was asked what he knew about masturbation and he replied, “My grandma explained it to me. She told me that…if men don’t do it…they might go ahead and rape a woman.”[34][35] When asked about this coincidence, the accuser maintained that both his grandmother and Jackson had happened to tell him the same thing, but with different motives.
Certainly it’s safe to say Michael was a weird dude with a messed-up childhood who didn’t have what most people would consider normal adult-child relationships. Maybe he was even a child molester. Maybe he wasn’t. I don’t think most of us have enough data to be confident one way or the other.
If she is, there is always Tilda Swinton, given Hollywood’s idea of casting non-whites…
And was astronomically rich, naive, and, as it turned out, a very easy target.
I can only imagine some parents who sent their kids to stay overnight at Neverland getting dollar signs in their eyes when they heard him say things in interviews like “oh yes, I love to sleep with little boys, they come over and share my bed.”
All we know for sure is that there were several accusers but no actual evidence, and every investigation failed. We also know that the DA had a clear vendetta against him.
I think that if any other childless full grown man had multiple little boy sleep overs at his house they would have been pilloried, too. You can’t just blame it on a vendetta against Jackson.
By no means am I saying this is normal or acceptable behavior, don’t get me wrong. I’m saying that he was naive enough to think that doing these things openly would be acceptable and that nobody would accuse of him of anything untoward, since he was Michael Jackson. That’s indeed a tragic flaw. We don’t know whether he was actually molesting kids or not. But he most certainly made himself look like one.
That’s Ralph Fiennes. He played the other noseless pale-skinned weirdo who had incredible talents but suffered a traumatic early life which may have ultimately manifested itself in a way that caused him to pose a threat to children.
As I understand it, he had a ton of stuff that was legal and innocuous on it’s own, but was cumulatively what law enforcement would look at as a major red flag- It’s one thing to have say, a kid’s swimwear catalog in with ones from Sears and Pottery Barn, but it’s something else to have a dozen of them mixed in with your porn collection.
Kind of how plastic sheeting, duct tape, a shovel, and several gallons of bleach are all perfectly legitimate things to have, but if you’ve got all of them in the trunk of your car, the police might have a few questions.
Which is why I’m always a little suspicious of the raid haul displays law enforcement put on. Pretty easy to raid anybody’s house and selectively choose a damning assortment for public display. Just choose your narrative, then pick and choose. Rioter/terrorist? Just grab the gas can from the garage, empty glass bottles from the recycle bin, rags, a base ball bat, bandanas, any black clothing, cell phones, binoculars, maps. Or kidnapper/rapist/murderer grab the stuff you mentioned, and maybe add a tire iron, chef’s knife, pruning sheers, zip ties, sleep mask, condoms, lube and a camera. You can make pretty much anybody look guilty.
