When did it become an issue with Black Actors playing Black Women?

[™BlackPearl The Empress™]

I don't have a problem with you wearing dresses OP

 

[K.O.N.Y]

Growing up, it was never an issue with Jamie playing Wanda or Martin playing Sheneneh. Even Tyler Perry playing Madea was extremely popular in our community for a long time. When did the perception on this change?

that just means many were completely indoctrinated

That shyt was always an actual problem

 

[King Poetic]

With nobodies on social media started talking about it over and over and media people started asking comedians and actors about it..

 

[AlbertPullhoez]

White actors could do it and not get no shyt for it

All Robin Williams did was go straight to the bank when he did Mrs. Doubtfire

 

[King Harlem]

I don't have a problem with you wearing dresses OP

Don't do me like that on Jesus' birthday @BlackPearl (how the hell am I supposed to @ you by the way).

 

[OliviaTwist]

I don’t Really remember the conversations around Martin and Jamie playing women since I was too young but I definitely remember conversations about Madea and how it leaned into minstrel shows.

yes when Black Men started waking up and seeing it as a diss to their Manhood and a Diss to Black women’s femininity by cosplaying as Black women.

Also it took jobs away from Black women.

It made the collective of Black People look bad.

Also this. The general collective’s opinion on things always change over time. Hindsight is 20/20 so yes I may be a bit more mature in my thirties to understand the nuance of these portrayals than I was as a kid or a teen. Or even people that were adults back then can see why/how it’s a problem that didn’t have much to say about it 20 or 30 years ago. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that tbh

But as a woman yes I do have a problem now with the way some black men portray black women. Especially these IG/ tik tok comedians. Something about a grown man with a full beard ghettofying himself to portray a black woman is masculating and disrespectful to the image of black women. It’s not really about them dressing up as women per se. It’s how it’s done

 

[Wiseborn]

I don’t Really remember the conversations around Martin and Jamie playing women since I was too young but I definitely remember conversations about Madea and how it leaned into minstrel shows.

Also this. The general collective’s opinion on things always change over time. Hindsight is 20/20 so yes I may be a bit more mature in my thirties to understand the nuance of these portrayals than I was as a kid or a teen. Or even people that were adults back then can see why/how it’s a problem that didn’t have much to say about it 20 or 30 years ago. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that tbh

But as a woman yes I do have a problem now with the way some black men portray black women. Especially these IG/ tik tok comedians. Something about a grown man with a full beard ghettofying himself to portray a black woman is masculating and disrespectful to the image of black women. It’s not really about them dressing up as women per se. It’s how it’s done

It’s a diss to Black women’s image.

First of all it’s comedy so there’s the neck rolling stereotypes, Then usually the women are depicted as fat and ugly

Finally they don’t actually dress them as women so they’re saying that Black women are masculine.

When the dudes don’t even bother to cut their beards that’s a super diss.

 

[OliviaTwist]

It’s a diss to Black women’s image.

First of all it’s comedy so there’s the neck rolling stereotypes, Then usually the women are depicted as fat and ugly

Finally they don’t actually dress them as women so they’re saying that Black women are masculine.

When the dudes don’t even bother to cut their beards that’s a super diss.

Exactly. Leaning too far into stereotypes to signify that this is a black woman. When they want to portray a woman as inherently unattractive they get a man to do it.

Robin Williams didn’t have to rely on negative stereotypes of a white woman to play Mrs. Doubtfire. You could really argue that anybody regardless of race could have been a Mrs. Doubtfire and the plot would have been the same. And the stereotype of the white women the wayans played were at worst vapid and materialistic. Those don’t do much harm to white women overall. But you got some of these folks out here wearing bonnets, highlighter colored nails and weave, neck rolling, combative attitudes, scowling or frowning, speaking in Ebonics, etc. to make sure you know that this is supposed to be a black woman.

 

[™BlackPearl The Empress™]

Don't do me like that on Jesus' birthday @BlackPearl (how the hell am I supposed to @ you by the way).

 

[Ripp]

This doesn't make much sense people were saying Uncle Tom and unfortunately 'c00n' all throughout the 70s-90s. You don't watch old movies?

Word. c00n always existed but Uncle Tom was the more prevalent term back in the day

 

[Ripp]

When Dave Chapelle said they tried to make him wear a dress and he refused. Suddenly refusing became a powerful stance,and accepting meant you gave into the white mans demands


Im not mad at it,it was perfect timing because it was being overdone. Although i dont think it was some cac conspiracy either to make black men wear dresses. Now the gay agenda is a whole different ball game.

The crazy thing is Chappelle had already did it twice before.

 

[Wiseborn]

Exactly. Leaning too far into stereotypes to signify that this is a black woman. When they want to portray a woman as inherently unattractive they get a man to do it.

Robin Williams didn’t have to rely on negative stereotypes of a white woman to play Mrs. Doubtfire. You could really argue that anybody regardless of race could have been a Mrs. Doubtfire and the plot would have been the same. And the stereotype of the white women the wayans played were at worst vapid and materialistic. Those don’t do much harm to white women overall. But you got some of these folks out here wearing bonnets, highlighter colored nails and weave, neck rolling, combative attitudes, scowling or frowning, speaking in Ebonics, etc. to make sure you know that this is supposed to be a black woman.

Absolutely Mrs. Doubtfire was comedy but not a roast of white female image.

Tootsie


didn’t shyt on white chicks as a collective.

Again these were white boys dressed up to look like white girls

None of that big ass Man playing a woman like Medea or Mother Payne with the Mustache.

Clearly Sheneneh was supposed to be an unattractive ghetto Black girl.

Frankly the whole shyt was Black Men c00ning hard.

Also it made it seem like Black Men are gay because despite sheneneh being unattractive she did have boyfriends.

 

[skylove4]

How in the world would you know that they were the same ones? You were in every black household?

Sit this conversation out Einstein bruh made a generalization about the past and I did the same.

 

[Ethnic Cleansing]

When their Daddy Dave Chapelle told his story and inadvertently made black folks feel woke acknowledging this grand conspiracy to emasculate the black man.

Black sitcoms were always marginalized and were given low budgets, lower advertising rate, and shorter leashes to cancellation. It was always an uphill battle for a black sitcom to survive and as a strategy, Jewwood mass reproduced any working formula from one successful black show to encapsulate damn near all black shows.

What we learned from the Sony Email hacks and BET Executives speaking out later is that the black audience is viewed as a low I.Q. demographic which is why extremely overused tropes and low hanging fruit jokes were the backbone of Black sitcoms.

Of arguably the Top 10 sitcoms of the 90’s, tell me which shows didn’t feature the over the top airhead (almost caricature) character

1. Martin- Cole (and later on his girlfriend in later seasons)

2. Fresh Prince- Hillary/Jazz

3. Wayans Bos.- Marlon

4. Family Matters - Waldo

5. Living Single- Sinclair

6. Moesha- Kim

7. Steve Harvey Show- Romeo/Lovita

8. Hanging With Mr. Cooper- Vanessa

9. The Smart Guy- Mo

10. Jamie Foxx Show- Jamie until Mouse came along



Point is, we are blanketed as a formula rather than a an actual group of people with a vast desire to see different stories told with different nuances

When Shenehneh and Wanda popped off, they were the hottest things in Black Entertainment not named Gangsta Rap. It was a given Jewwood was going to push that BS until the wheels fell off for that audience




To me, it’s more concerning that the consensus (Tyler Perry included) believe, with box office receipts to prove, that we are beholden to slapstick comedy and crossdressing as entertainment rather than believe that these images are intentionally pushed to trivialize black masculinity.

 

[timeless]

Not sure. I think somewhere down the line the divisions amongst Black people kinda grew bigger. Some folks had no issues with the caricatures, some folks did. Some found it emasculating, others did not. The phrase "Black people are not a monolith" starting floating around and now we are here and everybody is doing their own thing. The only thing we generally agree upon is that we are Black and racism is real and alive.

Perhaps we as a collective have grown tired of being placed inside boxes. And I don't think there is anything wrong with that. We aren't a monolith. It's okay if some comedian wants to wear a dress and act silly. It's also okay for a comedian to just get on stage and let their jokes do the talking. We can do both. As long as we know where we come from and that racism still has to be checked when we see it, everything else can be chalked up to a different in opinion.