The intensified Black Lives Matter movement continues to spark new introspection in Hollywood. Gone With the Wind was recently removed from HBO Max for its racist depictions. Now Tina Fey is apologizing for the use of blackface on 30 Rock.
Fey, 30 Rock cocreator Robert Carlock, and NBCUniversal are asking that four episodes featuring blackface on the Emmy-winning comedy be removed from streaming services and syndication. “As we strive to do the work and do better in regards to race in America, we believe that these episodes featuring actors in race-changing makeup are best taken out of circulation,” Fey wrote in a letter to streaming platforms that was obtained by Variety. “I understand now that ‘intent’ is not a free pass for white people to use these images. I apologize for pain they have caused. Going forward, no comedy-loving kid needs to stumble on these tropes and be stung by their ugliness.”
Blackface is rooted in racism: It began in 19th-century minstrel shows, with white performers using it to denigrate Black people. The four 30 Rock episodes, which aired between 2008 and 2012, include season three’s “Believe in the Stars,” in which Jenna Maroney (Jenna Krakowski) wears blackface while conducting a social experiment with Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan) about whether he would fare better as a white woman than she as a Black man. “Live from Studio 6H” during season six included guest star Jon Hamm in blackface as part of an Amos ‘n’ Andy parody. All of the episodes will be removed this week, Variety reports. But this isn’t the first time Fey and Carlock have been criticized for bungling race: They also came under fire for insensitivity on Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, including an episode satirizing cultural appropriation in which Titus Burgess’s character dressed as a geisha.
Fey’s apology comes as Jimmy Kimmel is also drawing criticism for blackface skits on The Man Show between 1999 and 2004. In one, Kimmel wore blackface to play Oprah Winfrey (“Oprah Jimfrey,” as Kimmel’s character was called) and basketball great Karl Malone. He also used the N-word while rapping in character as Snoop Dogg on Kimmel’s 1996 Christmas comedy album. Kimmel has yet to address the incidents, as #CancelKimmel trends on Twitter.
Last month, after the death of George Floyd, Jimmy Fallon issued a lengthy apology for his role in a 2000 SNL skit in which he appeared in blackface to impersonate Chris Rock. “I had to really examine myself in the mirror,” he said in a solemn open to The Tonight Show. “And I was horrified—not of people trying to ‘cancel’ me or cancel this show, which is scary enough. The thing that haunted me the most was how do I say I love this person?” he added of Rock. “I respect this guy more than I respect most humans. I’m not a racist.” As hashtag #jimmyfallonisoverparty spread on Twitter, Fallon tweeted: “I am very sorry for making this unquestionably offensive decision and thank all of you for holding me accountable.”
The reassessing of blackface in comedy is a glimmer of progress, though long overdue. Blackface has been wrong since its inception; it was wrong when Virginia governor Ralph Northam did (or did not do) it, and wrong when Megyn Kelly couldn’t see why it was wrong. It was wrong before Floyd’s death galvanized the country in protest. “It’s good that Tina Fey has asked for the episode of 30 Rock featuring blackface to be removed from streaming, but the live episode that is among the four being taken down went out in 2010,” journalist and poet Mic Wright tweeted on Tuesday. “Did she really not know that blackface wasn’t acceptable in 2010?”