Quote: Kapow @ 27th December 2017, 6:36 PM
Hey, I was joking, 
I love the character of Ian Foot from ''Come fly with me'' played by this same guy from Little Britain (David Walliams).
In American society many things are considered racist when they really aren't. There is also a tendency towards exaggerating how ofended one feels about things to try and make right for all the wrong doings of the past. I find this to be complete madness, one should always try to look at the situation for what it is: a humorous one. Failing to do that would mean one has lost his/ her ability to poke fun at themselves and that its when true madness begins.
Yes, I just watched that whole series. He was one of the more redeeming characters on there, but I don't think he was racist as he was more so politically incorrectly prejudiced with bigoted tendencies. Again, his character is a little bit advanced from most of the Little Britain characters, or shall I say evolved, as he's less of a stereotype and more of an arch type.
Having said all that, let me correct you on a few things as to why Little Britain and its blackface is unacceptable by the American standard (which I think you think is moreso about hurt feelings and making a laugh of a bad former situation).
Blackface in American society is BAD. Period, point blank. It isn't about how one feels either. It is about what it represents. Starting in the 1800s America, white performers would put dark paint on their faces and perform ridiculous stereotypes about blacks (who were then slaves) in Minstrel shows. As Norm Sheehan and Donald Bogle have written in depth, blackface began as a popular movement that ridiculed and lampooned black Americans leading up to the American Civil War to demean their status in society and make them look less intelligent, less civilized, and definitely not a citizen that should be given rights. This movement exploded during Reconstruction (post slavery American period) and continued onward in media as a representation of black people on television and film, dying out by the 1970s in the mainstream, but continuously used by white supremacist groups since the 1800s until now in their propaganda. It is STILL common to see these people running around with a blackface doll hanging by a noose with rhetoric saying the best place for black folks is on the end of a rope. People that put on blackface are ascribing to an ignorance pushed by hate groups that are actively still hunting and hurting people, black, hispanic, jewish, women of their race that date outside the race, etc. This is exacerbated by the mere fact of employment and housing being terribly discriminated, prejudiced, and separated as a matter of public policy. Your name can disqualify you from jobs. So can your address. EEOC was created to stop things like this, but the presidency of Barak Obama gave a re-rise to the minority of racist people that now are 40% of Trumpistas that are more than willing to forego their own civil rights to oppress others in this Trump presidency. And he and his ilk are bringing back the dirty washings from days past that are not so easily forgotten, and boasting upon it.
So yes, while Lucas and Walliams might find doing a sendup to Al Jolsen singing "Mammy" (which is a very bad racist epithet in America) on Little Britain with their minstrel duo, it is completely unacceptable in American society. It is just plain not, and will never be considered funny because in our climate of racial background it is not. And this is why I said be thankful the UK has a better relationship with their black people post slavery than America has with theirs. There is no poking fun at that, especially now in a climate of true racial hostilities egged on by Trump and his ilk. In American society, many things in the racism cypher that should have been overcome ages ago are literally apart of governmental policies support certain groups enacting bad behavior towards other groups, and they are allowed to continue unchallenged in said behavior. This is how our Democrats allowed for the rising of the Klu Klux Klan during a period of Reconstruction post-slavery, which in actuality, gave rise to things such as Jim Crow, Black Codes, and the Plessy versus Ferguson decision of separate but equal. Keep in mind all of these policies excluded things such as the right to vote, the right to work, the right to travel, and allowed an entire race of people to be kept in lower status worse than had they been considered property. And also keep in mind the reversal of ALL said policies only happened in America officially in 1970, but unofficially have still been going on (I implore you to look up former President Richard Nixon's Southern Strategy or Gary Webb's expose of President Reagen flooding black communities with crack or Bill Clinton's tough on crime 3x your out policies and their effect on black people's civil rights in America). Unlike black people in the UK, American black people (and other races of color) are still dealing with the same policies on the books from the 1800s that keep coming back with a vengeance and creating the tension that explodes into violence. Blackface was something that was invented to be disrespectful and demeaning in this country, and there even was a time where black actors had to wear it to perform on Broadway or they couldn't.
Okay, Lucas and Walliams might not know all of that. But they knew enough about it not to include the minstrels in the American version. Maybe somebody told them. Maybe they did a little research. But the fact of the matter is, their brand of socially incorrect comedy cuts deep outside of the UK, and by their own admittance they want to reach a broader audience. The reason why they flopped in America is because they had to answer for their choice of character stereotype solely for being white. And unfortunately, this is what America is on. There is a distinct cultural difference between Dave Chappelle playing a white news reporter and Lucas/Walliams putting on blackface. Whiteface has never been the brunt of racial inferiority in the mainstream as is grossly overlooked by the American masses. Blackface has, which is why when people like Robert Downey Jr. do it knowing the racial climate in Hollywood they get their asses handed to them (and he had to make 3 Iron Man films and people still ruffled in feathers about him in Tropic Thunder). See the point? It's a cultural difference again based on America's dark past with its black people and those that engage in it are automatically thought to be among the supremacists because they know what that is about.
I'm not just picking on Little Britain here - a lot of British sketch comedy does the black/brown face. All I'm saying is that you can't expect the historical implications of blackface and how America exported it via films/television to all of a sudden be gut busting hilarious when it still stands as the threshold to the darkest part of American history dealing with slavery, post-slavery, and contemporary society today. Watch Bamboozled by Spike Lee. Gives a great overview of the history of the blackface and the repercussions of using it in modern society.
"Yes, I just watched that whole series. " .......................... 