TheTodayshow host addressed the controversy surrounding his colleagues after she questioned whether wearing blackface as part of aHalloweencostume is actually racist on Tuesday.
“The fact is, she owes a bigger apology to folks of color around the county,” he said. “This is a history, going back to the 1830s [with] minstrel shows. To demean and denigrate a race wasn’t right. I’m old enough to have lived throughAmos ‘n’ Andywhere you had white people in blackface playing two black characters just magnifying the stereotypes about black people. And that’s what the big problem is. … No good comes from it. It’s just not right.”
“She said something stupid, she said something indefensible,” added Melvin, who called Kelly’s statement “ignorant and racist” but also called her “a colleague” and “a friend.”
Nathan Congleton/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank/Getty (2)
On Wednesday, Kelly held back tears as she apologized again after defending white people whowear blackface on Halloween.
“I defended the idea, saying as long as it was respectful and part of a Halloween costume, it seemed okay. Well, I am wrong and I am sorry,” she said.
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She added: “I have never been a PC kind of person. But I do understand the value in being sensitive to our history, particularly on race and ethnicity. This past year has been painful for many people of color. The country feels so divided and I have no wish to add to that pain and offense. I believe this is a time for more understanding, more love, more sensitivity and honor. I want to be part of that. Thank you for listening and for helping me listen too.”
A panel discussion on the issue featuring Kelly, Roland Martin and Amy Holmes followed the host’s statement — with her admitting at the end, “For my part, I have been listening and learning.”
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“What is racist?” Kelly had asked. “Because truly you do get in trouble if you are a white person who puts on blackface at Halloween or a black person who puts on white face for Halloween. Back when I was a kid, that was okay as long as you were dressing up as like a character.”
Prior to Wednesday’s show,Kelly apologized to her NBC colleagues in an internal email.
“When we had the roundtable discussion earlier today about the controversy of making your face look like a different race as part of a Halloween costume, I suggested that this seemed okay if done as part of this holiday where people have the chance to make themselves look like others. The iconic Diana Ross came up as an example. To me, I thought,why would it be controversial for someone dressing up as Diana Ross to make herself look like this amazing woman as a way of honoring and respecting her?” she continued.
Kelly acknowledged that she now realizes “that such behavior is indeed wrong, and I am sorry. The history of blackface in our culture is abhorrent; the wounds too deep.”
source: people.com
