Comedian Jay Pharoah revealed he’s generally not offended by white comedians who do impressions of Black people, as long as the impersonation doesn’t slide into offensiveness.
The “Saturday Night Live” alum delved into this issue on an episode of the podcast “Higher Learning with Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay.” Pharoah joined the show to talk about his career, perform some impressions, discuss racial profiling in 2020, and reveal who his favorite impressionists are. Near the beginning of the conversation however, Jones put to him the reasoned inquiry: “Have we passed the point where it’s ok for white comedians to do impressions of Black people?”
Pharaoh, who later complimented Jones for choosing a good question, gave a measured reply. “When you live in a society like America where everybody is culturally sensitive…I think you have to pick where you do it at.”
He explained, “I think if it’s in a comedy club, or you’re doing a special or something, I don’t think anything is wrong with it because it’s you and the crowd and whoever else is going to watch you. When you are on a program, I don’t know if it’s advantageous to do so, just because everyone is so sensitive.”
He added, “Personally, I do impressions of white people so…”
Lindsay then asked him, “It’s one thing to do an impression, it’s another thing to do Blackface, and is that where the line is drawn?”
“There you go,” Pharaoh said. “You’re not fully dressing up as this character. Blackface is offensive, you remember the movie ‘Bamboozled.’ It’s been going on for years even past slavery, like people did that.”
“But it’s offensive because it’s meant to do harm. And a lot of people who step into those shoes don’t know the past history of a lot of that. And it’s important to educate yourself on the diversity the issue has caused. Just so you know what you’re getting yourself into. And if you make a decision past that to do it, well, that’s on you.”
However, Pharoah indicated that he wasn’t sure to what extent he was personally offended by people who simply do a voice, particularly if it is inherent to their character.
“I feel like, if you’re not putting all the stuff on your face, and everything, I don’t know how offensive it is. Because if somebody is good at doing a voice, that’s just what they are. We thought Eminem was Black. Until we saw his face. I thought Robin Thicke —! But when you see him, that’s just him doing him.
“As long as you’re not trying to put extra on, I don’t know how much it offends me personally,” he continued. Pharoah mentioned Jimmy Fallon’s notorious Chris Rock impression as an example, but emphasized that “he apologized for it because he said, ‘that’s not right.’ ” He also made note of Mike Henry who stepped down from playing the role of Cleveland on “Family Guy,” which will be taken over by Black actor Arif Zahir.
