Especially in today's climate, there are lines actors shouldn't cross when portraying certain roles.
However, when it comes to performers donning blackface, Star Wars veteran Billy Dee Williams gave his approval.
The 87-year-old Black actor, famous for playing Lando Calrissian in the original Star Wars trilogy, had a conversation with Bill Maher about the long-stigmatized practice of non-Black actors wearing makeup to portray Black characters.
Williams insisted:
“If you’re an actor, you should do anything you want to do."
You can watch the segment here.
The conversation arose during an episode of the Club Random with Bill Maher podcast when Williams recalled being amused by Laurence Olivier’s portrayal of Othello in the 1965 film adaptation of the eponymous Shakespearean tragedy.
The ethnicity of Othello has been long-debated but the character is referred to as "the Moor," an ambiguous term describing people with darker skin tones.
Williams said of Olivier's performance in the film:
“He stuck his a** out and walked around because, you know, Black people are supposed to have big a**es."
In response, Maher mumbled that it was "Problematic."
Williams continued:
"I fell out laughing. I thought it was hysterical."
The awkward discussion prompted Maher to comment on the backlash from Bradley Cooper wearing a prosthetic nose to portray composer Leonard Bernstein in Maestro.
Williams maintained he "loved that kind of stuff," to which Maher replied, "I agree. But here's the thing. Today, they would never let you do that."
When Williams asked why, the host leaned forward and reiterated, "Blackface?" to make sure they were on the same page.
"Why not?" said Williams, confirming, "You should do it."
Stunned, Maher chuckled and told the actor, "That's your point of view."
Williams doubled down by saying that actors "should do anything" they want to do, to which Maher noted there would be consequences, saying:
“That’s a great point of view, but the theater would be bombed."
Williams' take didn't go over so well online.
People shook their heads.
Maher also reminded Williams the actor lived in a time when performers were discouraged from doing that, where "you couldn’t play the parts you should’ve played.”
The recipient of the NAACP Image Awards, and the NAACP Lifetime Achievement Award added:
“The point is, you don’t go through life feeling like, ‘I’m a victim."
“I refuse to go through life saying to the world, ‘I’m pissed off.’ I’m not going to be pissed off 24 hours a day.”
Williams' interview came following the release of his memoir in February, titled What Have We Here? Portraits of a Life.
