OT: ESPN airs Moss Video with "Blackface"

[Swan Vox]

So....I was out and about yesterday and happened to catch this Randy Moss mashup on ESPN, which to my horror and surprise featured the DJ sporting an afro wig and blackface. How this got past the ESPN censors is beyond me....

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqdDFWTQIww&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]



http://www.sportsgrid.com/nfl/espn-blac ... rsy-video/

[humanrefutation]

That is idiotic and insensitive, and yet, I'm not surprised. I'm sure many people will look at that and say "what's the big deal?"

[chuckleslove]

I feel like I'm missing something as to why this is controversial. So count me in the crowd saying "what's the big deal?" because I have no idea.

I first saw this when Kenny Mayne did his Straight Cash Homey parody of Moss a few years ago:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzPfXwktEzk[/youtube]

[humanrefutation]

A white person attempting to portray any other race in the media has been considered historically insensitive and racist - usually blackface was used by white people in conjunction with other stereotypes about African Americans, especially at a time when African Americans did not get jobs in the film industry. It represents a horrid period in the racial history of our country.

I know that might not have been the intention of the person wearing the blackface mask, but that's why there is a difference between intent and impact.

[Ayt]

Kenny Mayne rules.

Did you guys see Wade as Justin Timberlake for Halloween?

[Swan Vox]

I feel like I'm missing something as to why this is controversial. So count me in the crowd saying "what's the big deal?" because I have no idea.

I first saw this when Kenny Mayne did his Straight Cash Homey parody of Moss a few years ago:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzPfXwktEzk[/youtube]

ESPN: carrying the torch for the Black Minstrel show into the 21st century.

[Flames24Rulz]

One of my professors when I was at SIU, who studies racial relations in mass media, would've had a fit (and rightfully so) about this.

Yet another strike against ESPN.

[chuckleslove]

A white person attempting to portray any other race in the media has been considered historically insensitive and racist - usually blackface was used by white people in conjunction with other stereotypes about African Americans, especially at a time when African Americans did not get jobs in the film industry. It represents a horrid period in the racial history of our country.

I know that might not have been the intention of the person wearing the blackface mask, but that's why there is a difference between intent and impact.

Well there you go, now I'm informed I personally don't have a problem with it considering its a Randy Moss mask that Randy Moss sold on his website. That being said I'm as white as they come and I have no idea if its offensive to African Americans or not I guess I would leave it up to them but the Kenny Mayne video was a couple of years ago and I never heard any public outcry over it.

[Ayt]

Is this racist?

[Swan Vox]

A little history lesson from Wiki:

The minstrel show, or minstrelsy, was an American entertainment consisting of comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music, performed by white people in blackface or, especially after the Civil War, black people in blackface.

Minstrel shows lampooned black people as ignorant, lazy, buffoonish, superstitious, joyous, and musical.[citation needed] The minstrel show began with brief burlesques and comic entr'actes in the early 1830s and emerged as a full-fledged form in the next decade. In 1848, blackface minstrel shows were the national art of the time, translating formal art such as opera into popular terms for a general audience.[1] By the turn of the century, the minstrel show enjoyed but a shadow of its former popularity, having been replaced for the most part by vaudeville. It survived as professional entertainment until about 1910; amateur performances continued until the 1960s in high schools, fraternities, and local theaters. As blacks began to score legal and social victories against racism and to successfully assert political power, minstrelsy lost popularity.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minstrel_show

I saw that Kenny Mayne piece as basically a modern lampoon on black culture. Regardless of the validity of Moss's behavior or not...ESPN went out of it's way to find a number of aging white game show hosts to mock a young black athlete. Not good.

Obviously they continue to perpetuate their ignorance.

[Ayt]

I saw that Kenny Mayne piece as basically a modern lampoon on black culture. Regardless of the validity of Moss's behavior or not...ESPN went out of it's way to find a number of aging white game show hosts to mock a young black athlete. Not good.

Obviously they continue to perpetuate their ignorance.

Or it is simply a lampoon of Randy Moss. If the piece was about a white guy would it have been a lampoon of white culture?

[Swan Vox]

I saw that Kenny Mayne piece as basically a modern lampoon on black culture. Regardless of the validity of Moss's behavior or not...ESPN went out of it's way to find a number of aging white game show hosts to mock a young black athlete. Not good.

Obviously they continue to perpetuate their ignorance.

Or it is simply a lampoon of Randy Moss. If the piece was about a white guy would it have been a lampoon of white culture?

I think it boils down to intent vs. impact as humanrefutation pointed out. As harmless as it may have seemed to Kenny Mayne, it was in poor taste and perpetuates cultural mythology that has stood in the way of true racial equality and respect.

[A Diddy2231]

For those who want to see the part Swan is talking about, fast forward to the very end...I had to sit through that crappy mashup to see it

[Dwade03]

Anyone remember the Moss mask that came out years ago




It's all jokes, don't see anything wrong with it.

[MartyConlonOnTheRun]

This is one of those things in our society where if we were truly at a point that race doesn't matter, this wouldn't be a big deal at all. Skin color shouldn't matter and making a portrayal more accurate shouldn't be racism insensitivity. But do to our past, it is. Hopefully, we get that point in the future.

[BigSmooth_31]

looks to me like hes wearing a mask...

this is black face.

[Aaron It Out]

How is this insensitive? I wore an Obama mask for halloween. But oh **** I'm white, I shouldn't have done that. I'm sure ESPN was doing this just to offend you guys

[bucks59]

A white person attempting to portray any other race in the media has been considered historically insensitive and racist - usually blackface was used by white people in conjunction with other stereotypes about African Americans, especially at a time when African Americans did not get jobs in the film industry. It represents a horrid period in the racial history of our country.

I know that might not have been the intention of the person wearing the blackface mask, but that's why there is a difference between intent and impact.

I don't see the racist impact here: most people don't know about the historical baggage of the "blackface" and it was not combined with any other stereotypes of African Americans. The mask itself is something that Moss sells on his website. On top of that, a white fan wore that mask and an Afro at a Pats game a couple years ago to mimic the motion that Moss makes after scoring a TD. it was put on the jumbotron, and Moss laughed about it along the side lines. The only reason this is "racist" is because people are reading too much into this.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vj6FGepMkGI[/youtube]

[chuckleslove]

I agree that I still don't see the racism. Brittany Favre wore this mask for Halloween to the Patriots game just last weekend

[Newz]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vj6FGepMkGI[/youtube]