Good news, America! The election of Barack Obama has finally freed Will Smith to say what he's always wanted to: that America is not a racist country. Except when it is?

The fake-laughing, niacin-loving superstar sat down with Britain's Daily Express and revealed a long-held theory proven correct by the presidential election:

"It was as if some part of me was validated. It was something that I've known for a long time that I couldn't really say: 'You know guys, I really don't think America is a racist nation.' I know that I feel like that sometimes but I just don't believe that. There are racist people who live there but I don't think America as a whole is a racist nation. Before Obama won the presidency I wasn't allowed to say that out loud because people would say: 'Oh yeah, of course for you, Mr Hollywood!' "

Yes, except that Hollywood? Still racist! Moments later, Smith is asked whether executives are too nervous to give him love scenes opposite white actresses:

"Definitely nervous. You spend millions on a movie and the studio wants to do everything they can to protect their investment. The idea of a black guy kissing a white girl on screen becomes huge news in the States. Outside the country it's no big deal but in the US it's still a big racial issue."

Is Smith having his frosting-blind cake and eating it too, or has he pulled an untenable, Dixie Chicks-like act by criticizing from foreign soil the Hollywood executives who refused Leah Remini a Seven Pounds screen test? One can only hope that in our new, post-racial Obama nation, blandly written love interest parts will go to the actresses who most deserve them.

[Photo Credit: AP]

• AN INTERVIEW WITH WILL SMITH [Daily Express]

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