Comments on Obama is Half White...

I frown on it, just because they are plenty of ethnic and mixed-race actors out there that aren't being used because their parts are being stolen by white actors. Charleton Heston in A Touch of Evil, Angelina Jolie in A Mighty Heart, Ashley Judd in Frida. You can't tell me there are no other actors that could have taken these parts.

To me, when an actor portrays somebody other than themselves, it's hypocrisy.

ECB will put up a post later citing this as yet another reason not to vote for Obama.

@1 there's no actors that could have done it as well? couldn't have drawn an audience for the price the studio paid to finance the movie? who gives a fuck?

Fred Armistan is a mixed-race actor, D. But not the right mix, it seems, for some.

Does anyone else really miss Dave Chappelle this campaign season? He could have had a field day on his show with this material.

I frown on it, just because they are plenty of ethnic and mixed-race actors out there that aren't being used because their parts are being stolen by white actors.

For every non-"ethnic" actor who plays an "ethnic" part, there are fifty "ethnic" actors playing Hamlet or Macbeth or Henry V, somewhere in the country.

"Stolen" my hairy Hungarian ass.

Much ado about nothing, D. This isn't the thirties or fifties. And it's SNL, not the whole of Hollywood, so their talent pool is probably slim anyway.

who cares. as the article notes, hammond has played jesse jackson for years. no one cared then.

As long as the role of Ken Hutcherson is only ever played by himself, I have no problem.

@4. For years, Hollywood's main actors have been whites. They hardly give minorities the chance to play leading roles. Recently that's slowly been changing. However, the fact remains that minority actors aren't given their chance to show that they have the talent and acting skills of Jolie, Heston, Judd and other. For every one black movie star of today, I can probably name 6-8 white stars.

"For every one black movie star of today, I can probably name 6-8 white stars."

Given that blacks are 12% of the total population, this seems reasonable.

Is there some reason that you feel that blacks should be overrepresented in the entertainment industry?

This is almost as horrible as a man playing Janet Reno a few seasons back! Abomination! What are they, comedians?

How about a compromise--they hire a cranky old bi-racial man to play McCain?

Ever since I first saw Maya Rudolph playing a black celebrity on SNL, I still can't figure out whether or not she's black. Partly because I don't give a rat's ass.

Apparently, by some of these comments, unless you're 100% black, you don't count as ethnic.

Racists.

as long as the make up doesn't look like this, it should be ok.

@12 FTW

SNL needs to retire or mutate into something a little more relevant.

@14:

Her mom was Minnie Riperton!

Can I just point out here that this is far, far different than something like Charlie Chan or a minstrel show? Guys, save your ire for THOSE kind of performances, not this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnBTu9qGAkw&feature=related

It is on the BBC (and why not)

Dan, to answer your question, we have reached that point many many years ago, but it's still relatively rare when it's not crude racist caricature, sadly.

Jonathan Winters played black characters in his stand-up dialogue many many years ago, and -- I could be wrong -- but I think it was Eddie Murphy who said that Winters was the only white comedian he felt who could do black characters without feeling like he wanted to slug him.

Speaking of Prince parodies on SNL, the best one was still by the very-white Billy Crystal for the "Prince-Aid" sketch in 1985 (response to Prince not taking part of USA For Africa). Crystal knew he couldn't be Prince, so he gave him a false thespian personality when he sang "I am ALSO the world, I am ALSO the children". Crystal did don darker skin makeup though, but I don't remember this being controversial at all.. and I don't remember feeling it should have been controversial. (I was really sensitive to race issues as a young kid for reasons I won't go into right now.)

Heaven forbid Lorne Michaels have more than one actor of color on the SNL cast. I guess that Fred Armesen is half-Asian, but for the life of me I can't remember a single Asian actor in the history of SNL. The only Latino actor I remember is Horatio Sanz.

To me, when an actor portrays somebody other than themselves, it's hypocrisy.

If elenchos supported Hillary, he'd pretty much be my perfect human being.

Ziggity@14:

Ever since I first saw Maya Rudolph playing a black celebrity on SNL, I still can't figure out whether or not she's black.

She is, however, 100% hot.

Black, black-face or whatever, the guy was terrible by any standard.

"but I think it was Eddie Murphy who said that Winters was the only white comedian he felt who could do black characters without feeling like he wanted to slug him"

Wasn't it Eddie Murphy that donned "white face" in an SNL comedy sketch in order to avoid discrimination at a job interview? IIRC he caricatured whites pretty crudely, joking with the interviewer about "silly negros" and whatnot.

The real WTF seems to be that there are no black cast members on SNL, or rather, that people still watch SNL at all.

Who should they have had play Obama, Kenan Thompson? Fred Armisen is hilarious, it was a much better choice.

Chevy Chase is available. And he did a mean Gerald Ford....

Sven. Look up the the etymology of 'hypocrisy.'

I don't retract my comment although I wasn't really commenting on the SNL piece specifically.

But I was just reminded of a great performance where I forgave the actor for "stealing" a part from a woman. Nick Garrison rocked as Fay in Loot. He played a better Fay than I think anyone could have and he played it completely straight.

It's funny there's suddenly a big outcry over Armisen playing Obama. His whole schtick is racial stereotypes: Fericito - the Venezuelan comedian, Billy Smith - Native American comedian, Gabe - the Jewish man in adult education, and Noony - whatever he is.

His stuff is frequently offensive, and frequently not so funny, but I still kinda appreciate him pushing the boundaries. I mean that was the best part of the Chapelle show - stepping over boundaries, exposing racism and laughing at racial stereotypes.

@26,

Yes they do, but I think it's fair to say that Kenan Thompson, despite his talent, wouldn't be an appropriate choice to play Obama.

He is a hilarious Al Sharpton, however.

e@29-

Nice. So your comment worked on two levels. Why I no write good?

He may not be the best choice to portray Obama, but on those rare occasions when Obama isn't around to play himself on SNL, he does fine.

and besides, most of us in the West are multi-ethnic anyway, so why should we care?

Fred Armisen is basically SNL's chameleon - he played an Arab man on 30 Rock, Javier Bardem (Spanish) and Obama (biracial) last week, and members of countless other racial and ethnic groups. To me, it's not a big deal at all.

If were supposed to have a dildo up our ass over a lighter hue playing amn of a darker hue then as a "caucasion american" I should feel offended about eddy murphy and dave chapell being 'racist" and perpetuating crude racial sterotypes via donning 'white face'

give me a fucking break
PC people are silly hysterical basterds

I don't care who plays Obama on SNL, but it would be nice if whoever gets the role could do it with as much talent as Hader when he played Daniel Day-Lewis' character from "There Will Be Blood".

The Obama impersonation was just bad. Do it well, and it's funnier.

Just to clarify, Fred Armisen is Latino (Venezuelan) and Japanese.

zomg. the obamatrons actually remembered that obama, along with being (all) black, is also half white! yay!