Ted Danson feels eternal regret for doing blackface on Whoopi Goldbergwas founded in 1993.
“I want to talk about this and apologize forever. I know what was in my heart. Therefore, I don't mind talking about this,” The Man Inside star, 78, said during Tuesday, June 2, episode of W. Kamau Bell's “Who's With Me” podcast. “But I need and want to apologize for the rest of my life because someone today can go online, you're right, and say, 'What? I did that too.'”
Danson, who was dating Goldberg, now 70, at the time, took part in a course put on by the Friars Club. I Happiness The actress explained on Tuesday that her relationship with Goldberg was coming to an end and both tried to leave the event but were unable to. Danson shared that he had no knowledge of comedy and wasn't sure how to proceed.
“So my mind was going, 'OK, here's one of the most disgusting, funniest Black women in the world at the time. I should be roasting her,'” she thought. “And I'm not a stand-up person. I can't run with the bulls.'
Danson admitted that he can only be “funny” if the “material” he does is a joke. So after thinking about it, he decided to go down the “theatre” route.
“I watched all these tapes and it's like, if I was black, I would say all these offensive things. I'm not. My mind went, I'm going to do it in blackface. That's going to be good or not.”
Danson admitted that he thought he could pull it off and now realizes that he was “arrogant and stupid.” He also revealed that he had a little run in with Goldberg before entering the stage. Looking back now, he thinks that the actor did not want to put down his “art”.
“I worked on this for months… and within 20 seconds I felt like I stuck my finger in a light socket,” he recalled. “20 percent of the crowd got this and thought it was great and got it. 30 percent of the crowd got it and f**king hated it. 50 percent of the crowd didn't get it and f***ing hated it and hated me. And I went on.”
Ted Danson apologizes to Kelsey Grammer for the argument they had on the set of Cheers. Danson, 76, issued his mea culpa on the Wednesday, Oct. 23, episode of his SiriusXM podcast “When Everyone Knows Your Name,” on which Grammer, 69, appeared. “I feel like I'm a little stuck in time with you […]
Danson got an instant hit with it and the act stays with him to this day. Goldberg, for his part, has defended Danson many times over it – and regrets it deeply.
“Poor Whoopi Goldberg has had to protect me over the years, sweetly and graciously,” he said on Tuesday. “The last thing he wants to do is to be put in this position again.”
