race-baiting, barack obama, saturday night live, that's racist

Only Black Guys Can Be Obama On SNL

Television critics are defending Barack Obama's vision of a less racist America by saying only a black comedian is allowed to make fun of the presidential candidate. Fred Armisen tried to imitate Obama on Saturday Night Live but it was not funny, thanks to Armisen's Japanese and Venezuelan ancestors, and now critics of all races are uniting to make Armisen aware of how his genes make his dreams impossible. Apparent white lady Maureen Ryan led the charge from the Chicago Tribune, writing, " there's only one thing that would justify giving the role to a non-black performer — if the person who took on the role was simply terrific as Obama." Then black woman Hannah Pool wrote in Britain's Guardian that "the Chicago Tribune should not hire a white TV critic to do a black TV critic's job." Kidding! She actually wrote, "Casting a black actor... would have made the whole thing a lot less shoddy." Actually, what made Armisen's performance weak was not the color of the skin but the (awkward) content of his (Obama) character, on display in this excerpt:

[via TVTattle]

1:21 AM on Wed Feb 27 2008
By Ryan Tate
4,979 views
50 comments

Comments

HiredGoons at 01:27 AM on 02/27/08
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Frankly I'm shocked that ANYONE wants to be on SNL anymore.
jimbehrle at 01:28 AM on 02/27/08
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Paging Tracy Morgan. Please pick up the red courtesy phone.
we-are-the-801 at 01:40 AM on 02/27/08
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Yeah, get Keenan to do it. Or what's Kel up to?
belltolls at 01:42 AM on 02/27/08
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Connectedness Index: 209

Let me help the newsies here: the skit wasn't about Obama. It was about the press fawning over Obama. It was Emperor's New Clothes. It wasn't the tightest, funniest writing ever but it was pretty ballsy given the stated preference of the producer.
vandusen at 01:50 AM on 02/27/08
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Next they're going to tell me I can't cast white men in my mandingo parties.
heroinandpeeps at 01:50 AM on 02/27/08
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Is there such a thing as "gay face?"
blakeley at 02:06 AM on 02/27/08
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Time to bring Eddy Murphy back, it'll keep him from doing all those recent shitty movies too!
nightfloat at 02:18 AM on 02/27/08
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keenan sucks so bad. he even sucked on all that on nickelodeon.
boofrickenboo at 02:20 AM on 02/27/08
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uh, obama's half white, so does that mean only half white actors can play him?
boofrickenboo at 02:24 AM on 02/27/08
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uh, obama's half white, does that mean only half white actors can play him?
buckshot at 03:19 AM on 02/27/08
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No one bitched when John Belushi did Samurai Deli!
psst at 03:45 AM on 02/27/08
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Indeed; I agree that only the token Negroe in that fine Troupe of Merry Players should have License to play the present dark Candidate, Mr.Obama.
VoxPopuli at 04:30 AM on 02/27/08
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Well, I'll give the SNL guy credit for getting Obama's "concerned face" down fairly well, but the rest was just horrible.

If anyone here listens to the BBC, did you hear this interview about a week ago with an "Obama impersonator" who sounded nothing like Obama except that he has an American accent, which maybe was enough for the British interviewer. What race he was, I don't know - it was a podcast.
VoxPopuli at 04:32 AM on 02/27/08
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@jimbehrle: Not unless you want an Obama who wants to take America behind the junior high and get it pregnant.

(I just watched the 30 Rock DVD set through netflix, and that line just seeps into your brain.)
HauteBouncer at 05:45 AM on 02/27/08
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Armisen does Prince all the time. Prince is also black, and princes are way more huger than presidential candidates.
Malarcus at 06:24 AM on 02/27/08
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@buckshot: Or when Chevy Chase played Gerald Ford...
Malarcus at 06:25 AM on 02/27/08
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"He said, 'Black guys... help... the... White Guys!'"
whitekidinflatbush at 06:42 AM on 02/27/08
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Lorne Michaels has said before that race and gender don't matter in comedy. I don't remember an uproar when Darrell Hammond debuted his Jesse Jackson impression.
btrp at 07:01 AM on 02/27/08
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Armisen also did Ahmadinejad. He is not Middle Eastern. I missed the hubbub. Is it because it's not really a different race or because we don't like Ahmadinejad? Or am I missing something here?
YourGoldKeith at 07:56 AM on 02/27/08
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*yawn*
In Other News... at 08:08 AM on 02/27/08
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@buckshot: That's what you think.

Love,

Japan
In Other News... at 08:09 AM on 02/27/08
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@Malarcus: That's what you think.

Love,

The American Auto Industry (or, what remains of it)
In Other News... at 08:13 AM on 02/27/08
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It's called "non-traditional casting". America, lighten up. Or darken. Whatevs. Armisen is a great talent who's played many-a-role in many-a-skintone. Like BellTolls said, the sketch was about the apparent lovefest between Obama and the mainstream press. If all you took away from it was "Hey, that's not a black dude playing a black presidential candidate!" then you've missed the point entirely.
Valerie Flame at 08:17 AM on 02/27/08
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I dunno.. I thought the pacing and voice were pretty good. For a Japanese-Venezuelan guy.
Mean_Ol_Liberal at 08:27 AM on 02/27/08
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If race didn't matter in casting on SNL, there wouldn't be a thirty year tradition of having only one black male cast member in any collected cast for any given season. But there IS that proud, decades-long tradition.

That said, this era's "permitted" cast member who fits the description looks a lot less like Barack Obama than Armisen does. In my Mean Ol' opinion, unless Kenan Thompson's Obama impression is eerily dead on in mannerism, expression and voice, then it would be MORE racist to just push Thompson into the role solely because he's black.
In Other News... at 08:27 AM on 02/27/08
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@YourGoldKeith: Somnambulantly pithy.
bigboybc at 08:42 AM on 02/27/08
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Here we go... I have just been waiting for this type of nonsense to begin. The moment someone starts to make fun of Obama, the "race baiters" will start shooting their mouths off.

This is why America isn't mature enough to have either an a female or person of color, as president. There is just no way any critical or humorous commentary can be made without being accused of "sexism" or "racism".

By the way, that skit on SNL sucked anyway, so did Tina Feys butt kissing of Clinton.
MisterHippity at 09:01 AM on 02/27/08
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I don't think they should have a man playing Hillary Clinton, either. I mean, don't get me wrong — Rob Lowe looks good in that wig, and he does a fairly convincing imitation. But SNL should really let woman have a crack at that role.
scroll_lock at 09:01 AM on 02/27/08
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Why'd they ever let Jimmy Fallon impersonate Chris Rock?! Or Phil Hartman doing Barbara Bush? Give me an effing break.
MisterHippity at 09:05 AM on 02/27/08
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I had to watch that clip with the sound turned off, because I'm in the office. Looks like the "Obama" guy was having some kind of seizure ... is that right?

I don't get it. Is Obama an epileptic or something?
meerkat at 09:07 AM on 02/27/08
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@btrp:
It's because Obama is regarded as a sacred being.
Which was pretty much the point of the skit.
In Other News... at 09:23 AM on 02/27/08
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@MisterHippity: No, it's just a caricature of how everything he says comes off as measured and stiff.
IronSheik at 09:37 AM on 02/27/08
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The other part of this argument is that SNL has a quota of two black people on the show at a given time.

But the Campbell Brown impression was dead on.
scroll_lock at 09:50 AM on 02/27/08
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@In Other News...: is YGK the artist formerly known as Cesare?!!
scroll_lock at 09:52 AM on 02/27/08
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@IronSheik: Big deal. No one ever was outraged that "In Living Color" was mostly black.
Obviously Not Omniscient at 09:57 AM on 02/27/08
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Connectedness Index: 170

The guy (Justin...) from the Barackula video is talented... and way cute, too.
amplesufficiency at 11:14 AM on 02/27/08
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@VoxPopuli: Yes, actually. Yes I do. Can't you imagine him addressing America as though it were a pigeon eating a french fry? "Don't you know you can fly?!" Inspiring.
jasonelias at 11:18 AM on 02/27/08
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Darrell Hammond did Jesse Jackson. Billy Crystal was great as Sammy Davis Jr., Muhammad Ali, and a Negro Leagues player. This isn't anything new. The problem? Armisen's Obama wasn't that funny.
barelyblack at 11:19 AM on 02/27/08
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Fred Armisen makes a terrific Obama! He totally looks and sounds like him. Race is a ridiculous construct. There are people in my family who "look" white but are not. There are Asians who look black, Jews who look black, blacks who look Asian.
jasonelias at 11:20 AM on 02/27/08
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@IronSheik: They actually had three in the early '90s with Chris Rock, Tim Meadows and Ellen Cleghorne.
Martita at 11:41 AM on 02/27/08
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I suspect the real problem here is that Fred Armisen is not funny. He is annoying.
seriousbummer at 11:46 AM on 02/27/08
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Remember when SNL became MadTV?
heroinandpeeps at 12:53 PM on 02/27/08
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Garrett Morris, your ship has finally come in.
Dusty in the Wind at 01:52 PM on 02/27/08
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@Martita: Ditto.

Moreover, from over a year ago:

+ Watch video
ginger rant at 02:25 PM on 02/27/08
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Finesse Mitchell's name is conspicuously absent in this thread concerning the brown talent from SNL seasons past. I always liked him, but apparently I was a stalker of one.
IronSheik at 03:06 PM on 02/27/08
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@scroll_lock: yeah they were. that's why it was taken off the air.
IronSheik at 03:09 PM on 02/27/08
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@jasonelias: If I remember correctly, Chris and Tim didn't overlap at all. Now Tim and Ellen's time did overlap considerably.

Like I said. Quota of 2 black people at one time.

Anymore than that and Lorne Michaels head explodes.
mimigoliath at 03:29 PM on 02/27/08
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@ginger rant: You're not alone in your love of Finesse Mitchell. I was really sad to see him go and thought he was never really given a chance. And I really can't complain about Fred Armisen playing Obama, except that it needs some fine-tuning. (When did he find out he got this gig? The Thursday or Friday before?) Cast members on SNL have crossed race and gender lines since it started. I'm over this one.
ginger rant at 03:49 PM on 02/27/08
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@mimigoliath: I share your grief. Nobody does a black urban teen girl better than Finesse. Including a black urban teen girl.

@IronSheik: Not so fast, my friend. How about the holy trinity--okay, triumvirate--of Keenan Thompson, Finesse Mitchell, and Maya Rudolph of a year or so back?

Okay, what do I win?
jasonelias at 11:27 PM on 02/27/08
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ImageIgloo.com

Why is the post over here, oh well..Here they are, when Lorne had three black people. I remember it well, this was one of my favorite casts.