Nick Cannon in white face is not such a big deal. If you have been behind the eight ball last week, Cannon, who is married to Mariah Carey, donned a blonde wig and white face to promote a new album, White People Party Music. Here is what Cannon had to say:
“Damn, I didn’t know it was going to be this hard being White! I’m exhausted with all this ‘privilege’ LOL #WhitePeopleProblems,” Cannon later tweeted. Mimicking a critic, he wrote, “I think we should have a million white man march and protest @NickCannon album!!
Somebody call @rushlimbaugh’ LOL. I love this conversation though. It’s showing a lot of people’s true colors…#punintended.”
The stunt created controversy, with Arienne Thompson, the African-American host of USA Today’s online “Daily Dish” webcast, calling it “not funny at all” and “horrible.”
Oh girl give my butt a break, it was funny as heck. Apparently some people who were born White didn’t think it was so funny. It was the topic of discussion on “Entertainment Tonight,” and “Inside Edition” they even questioned if Cannon was a racist. The term racist is constantly used incorrectly; often the word bigot or prejudice is what is meant. There should be a segment in the dictionary that explains words that are constantly misused.
Back to the white face no one questioned the creators of “Saturday Night Live” when they put Eddie Murphy in white face. Remember the skit where Murphy was in white face to see what happened when Black people were not around, he was able to get on the bus for free and get loans without qualifying. Murphy also did another character in white face during the movie “Coming to America,” it was brilliant and funny. Why don’t White people think this is funny?
From outward appearances many Whites think it is funny when they dress in black face or sport Afro wigs. Just ask Ted Danson; he did a brief stint as a Black man when he escorted Whoopi Goldberg to the Friars Club Roast in 1993. He said it was Whoopi’s idea and at the end of that identity change he was finished being Black and the relationship went dark soon thereafter.
Being Black is not for the faint of heart. It seems like we as Black people are to accept being mocked and made fun of by people as far away as Asia; Black face and coon images are quite popular outside of the USA. Trayvon Martin costumes were even worn for Halloween. Now how insensitive is that? White people walking around in black face in a hoodie with a can of ice tea and a bag of Skittles and now they are getting upset over Nick Cannon.
There has never been an official ban on black face put forth by our national government, but as Americans we’ve pretty much agreed that when White people smear their face with black make-up and paint their lips a cherry red in imitation of Black people, it’s offensive. So we will try to understand Whites being offended as well.
(Email the columnist at debbienorrell@aol.com)
Follow @NewPghCourier on Twitter https://twitter.com/NewPghCourier
Like us at https://www.facebook.com/pages/New-Pittsburgh-Courier/143866755628836?ref=hl
Download our mobile app at https://www.appshopper.com/news/new-pittsburgh-courier
About Post Author
