1y ago

How racist/controversial would this skit from the 90's be today?

To summarize, this scandinavian comedy trio from the 90's made a parody of Miami Vice. This being 90's scandinavia, you can probably guess that the actors/comedians didn't exactly have the melanin-credentials of parodying the black guy from Miami Vice, so one of them instead wore blackface (well, brownface would perhaps be a better description, due to the color tone).

As far as I can recall, the skit didn't really make race much of a punchline, except from when they're fixing their hair before the final showdown (which one of course have to do, this being a Miami Vice parody), and the white guy asks the black guy to borrow some hair gel but gets the response: (roughly translated) "I'm black, I don't use hairgel. I use chocolate pudding."

So yeah, asking because I'm a middle aged extremely white guy, and I found this skut funny as shit when I was a kid, and I stumbled across it recently, and I got curious.

EDIT: Found it. Turns out it's from 1989. https://youtu.be/GDpLUXtA-4M
I can't be arsed translating, because in retrospect it's not really that good, but you can see the blackface and its origin in the beginning.

27 comments

Fuck the blackface, wtf is this??
“I’m black, I don’t use hairgel. I use chocolate pudding.”
Christ almighty, that's the kind of shit you could only think is NOT racist if you've like, never seen any Black people in your life personally (Scandinavia, so...possible).
Even in the 80s in America you'd get punched for something like that. And yes, I was around, I'm not a zoomer who thinks that Lincoln fought a war to free the gays.
- Is that... Not what Lincoln is known for?

blackface
Yeah that's gonna be an immediate no from me.
- It should be noted that I'm not 100% sure of the definition of blackface, so I may have used the term incorrectly. In this specific case, it is makeup applied in a manner so the actor appears somewhat realistic as being african american (as opposed to the minstrel-show-makeup). I think theybwere trying to have him look like the actual Miami Vice guy, this being its parody. Please see the first few seconds of the youtube link and help me clarify.
  
  That is blackface, yes.

Like the intent (probably) wasn't racist, but it was still racist.

Blackface is just a very big no.
- Would you say that this was racist, or shouldn't have been performed?
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vkzox_t3Z-Q

I think it’s a very difficult choice to navigate. The biggest example of brown/blackface where it doesn’t work I can remember is Fisher Stevens playing an Indian guy in Short Circuit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_Circuit_(1986_film). In that movie, he’s playing an Indian person as a stereotype to juxtapose with how white counterpart. Contrast that to Robert Downey Jr. being nominated for an Oscar and BAFTA for his blackface roll in Tropic Thunder. The way it was handled within the movie itself was legitimately a good representation of why blackface is usually on the wrong side of “is it racist?”
I think just based on the little I’ve seen without any other translation besides your edit, it looks fairly racist.

I am Canadian, which means American Lite, and I currently work for a global company based in France, so lots of French people. The casual racism is often astounding and at levels that would get you seriously hurt in certain places on this continent. It's not hate-based at all that I can see, just ignorance of what exactly is going on on the other side of the world is my assumption.
- France is probably the most racist country in Europe but UK is also trying hard. And it's not ignorance, it's superiority complex.
- Institutional racism is alive and kicking in the EU.

Without reading, probably very, based on it being brought up.
After reading, 90's European blackface can be excused based on lack of historical context with minstrel shows, but the pudding thing doesn't feel very nice.

Definately off color now. Funny thing I find today is that it is often white people that are more offended than those of the race in subject.
Just read my comment back and it just occurred to me, where did the term 'off color' originate? Possibly that is a racy?

who cares
- You clearly do.
  
  Why do you think the person who commented "who cares" cares? Is it because they commented "who cares"? Wild stuff.

I am almost sure I heard the word "negre" in there after the white guy asks for hair gel.
- Yes. The word is "Neger", and up until very recently, that was the common term for people with darker skin tone, as "afro american" doesn't really make sense outside of america. It was used up until maybe 2000ish in a similar way to how "negro" was used in the US in the 40s and 50s (and probably later), but more broadly.
  It was later replaced by "African", which doesn't really work, as the old term could mean more than just people of african heritage.
  I'm not entirely sure what's the appropriate term is today - it's not like i need to refer to peoples heritage through their skin tone a whole lot.
  EDIT: I just remembered from when I was a kid my aunt (who married a guy from Ghana) referring to him as "neger" some time in the 90s, so it was at least at that point in time not considered offensive.
  
  Huh. Google Translate gives me the translation I'd expected:
  my colleague is a Black guy
  min kollega er en svart fyr
  In Germany, we used to have the exact same term with N, but using that term hasn't been ok since at least the early 90s.

I loved that show. To me it's not racist whatsoever.
Will check out the parody though, love those :)

Nicely done parody.
Also mind the ladies butts, the constant smoking and whatever else seems a bit outdated.
I bet I could get that tanned skin if I worked outside for a whole summer. I think the first joke is perfectly alright. The second one at the end is a bit cheap.

Of course all of you excuse it, none of you are black so you don't care
It's extremely racist if you'd like to know from someone who is black

27 comments