Ted Danson’s Blackface Roast of Whoopi Goldberg: A Controversy Revisited

Virginia finds itself in the midst of a prolonged governance crisis, with no end in sight.

It all began on February 1st when Democratic Governor Ralph Northam publicly apologized for his appearance in a blackface photo from his 1980s yearbook, where he stood alongside an individual dressed in a Ku Klux Klan robe.

The very next day, Northam retracted his statement, claiming that he was not actually in the controversial photo, although he did admit to darkening his face with shoe polish for a Michael Jackson dance contest.

Adding fuel to the fire, Virginia's Attorney General Mark Herring confessed to donning blackface at a costume party in the 1980s, while two women came forward accusing the lieutenant governor of s**ual assault.

Blackface has long been recognized as an unequivocally racist practice deeply rooted in white America's performance tradition.

As the New York Times recently summarized, a lengthy list of prominent figures spanning 186 years have engaged in blackface, including entertainers such as Fred Astaire, Bing Crosby, Judy Garland, and Ted Danson, among many others.

Among these instances of blackface, one particularly significant scandal stands out as both a reflection of the present and a relic of the past.

In October 1993, actor Ted Danson attended a Friars Club roast of his then-girlfriend, Whoopi Goldberg, with his face painted dark brown and a white stripe encircling his mouth.

Throughout his routine, Danson used racial slurs, discussed explicit details about their s** life, joked about Goldberg cleaning his parents' house, and concluded by eating watermelon.

While Danson had been advised that the performance was closed to the press, a reporter had asked him to preview it, jokingly remarking that it could potentially end his career.

The performance turned into a disaster for Danson, both in the room and in the subsequent fallout.

Critic Roger Ebert, who was present at the roast, noted that each joke received progressively fewer laughs from the crowd of approximately 3,000 attendees, including celebrities like Halle Berry, Vanessa Williams, RuPaul, and Mr. T, who sat stone-faced.

Talk show host Montel Williams stormed off the stage and later resigned from the club via telegram.

New York Mayor David Dinkins, also in attendance, condemned the jokes as crossing a line.

The aftermath of the scandal only became messier.

The Friars Club issued an apology on Saturday, the day after the roast, to anyone who was offended by the racial remarks.

Goldberg herself held a press conference in Beverly Hills on Sunday, staunchly defending Danson.

However, the all-male club reversed its apology on Monday, asserting that the strong reaction was undeserved.

Throughout this period, Danson remained mostly silent.

Nevertheless, the controversy dominated headlines, overshadowing even the battle American forces were engaged in Mogadishu, Somalia at the time.

Danson's routine sparked nationwide debate over the First Amendment, political correctness, and interracial relationships, with Goldberg becoming a popular Halloween mask that year.

Despite no public footage of Danson's performance being available, the scandal garnered significant attention due to his celebrity status.

At the time, Danson was a household name, having gained fame through the hit sitcom Cheers, which attracted 42 million viewers for its series finale earlier that year.

His relationship with Goldberg, forged during the filming of Made in America, further intensified media interest.

Danson may not have recovered from this disastrous performance if not for Goldberg's unwavering support.

When she took the stage after his routine, she expressed her anger at the audience's evident disgust.

Goldberg later revealed that she had contributed significantly to Danson's material and dismissed the backlash as insane, arguing that his critics failed to understand comedy and her own aversion to political correctness.

The couple announced their breakup less than a month after the roast, by which time the scandal had largely subsided.

In a 2009 interview on Fresh Air, Danson described the incident as a graceless moment in his life.

Upon closer examination, the coverage of the 1993 Friars Club scandal appears strikingly simplistic compared to the ongoing discussions surrounding Virginia's recent political turmoil.

Presently, we have access to in-depth analyses of racism in Virginia's history, including college yearbooks and the medical field.

Cultural critics, podcasters, and academics, particularly those from the black community, offer sharp dissections of the Virginia debacle.

This contrasts with the predominantly white voices that dominated the discourse in 1993.

Moreover, current debates exhibit a level of sophistication absent during the Danson scandal, as they explore contextual nuances and the distinction between individual prejudices and systemic racism.

While our cultural criticism era often faces accusations of excessive moralism, it is refreshing to read critical perspectives from a time when society was only beginning to grapple with these complex issues, reducing the controversy to a choice between humor and political correctness.