Apr 09, 2024 - 06:19
By huffpost.com

Billy Dee Williams Says Actors Shouldn't Get In Trouble For Doing Blackface

Billy Dee Williams told Bill Maher he’s fine with actors doing blackface.

Williams made the comment while praising Laurence Olivier’s portrayal of Othello during an appearance on Sunday’s episode of “Club Random with Bill Maher.”

“When he did Othello, I fell out laughing,” Williams said of Olivier, who wore blackface in the 1965 screen adaptation of “Othello,” the Shakespearean tragedy.

“He stuck his ass out and walked around because Black people are supposed to have big asses,” the “Star Wars” actor went on, prompting Maher to jokingly reference the controversy Bradley Cooper received for wearing a prosthetic nose to play composer Leonard Bernstein in “Maestro.”

Williams then continued to applaud Olivier’s performance, saying, “I thought it was hysterical. I loved it.”

When Maher reminded Williams that, in today’s climate, an actor wouldn’t be able to do blackface, the “Batman” actor replied, “Why not? You should do it.”

“That’s your point of view,” Maher responded.

“If you’re an actor, you should do anything you want to do,” Williams said.

“That’s a great point of view, but the theater would be bombed,” Maher replied before noting that Williams “actually lived in a period where you couldn’t play the parts you should’ve played.”

“The point is — you don’t go through life feeling like, ‘I’m a victim,’” Williams said. “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’ podcast appearance comes as he’s been promoting his memoir, “What Have We Here? Portraits of a Life,” which came out in February.