Billy Dee Williams Says Blackface Is Fine for Actors

Billy Dee Williams doesn’t have a problem with actors in blackface. The 87-year-old made the revelation during a conversation with Bill Maher about Laurence Olivier wearing dark makeup in the 1965 movie Othello. “When he did Othello, I fell out laughing,” the Star Wars actor said on Maher’s Sunday podcast. “He stuck his ass out and walked around because Black people are supposed to have big asses.” When Maher said that would never be tolerated today, Williams replied, “Why not? You should do it. If you’re an actor, you should do anything you want to do.” He added, “The point is you don’t go through life feeling like, ‘I’m a victim.’ I refuse to go through life saying to the world, ‘I’m pissed off.’ I’m not gonna be pissed off 24 hours a day.” Williams’ perspective wasn’t completely out of step with past comments; he previously told The Guardian that he doesn’t consider the race of the characters he plays. “I’ve been able to translate very well across the board,” he said. “I don’t really think in terms of Black. I couldn’t care less about all that garbage.”