What is the obsession with Black male comedians who like to dress up as Black women to get a quick laugh? Tyler Perry, Eddie Murphy, Martin Lawrence, now David Allen Grier as Dr. Maya Angelou rehearsing a poem she wrote for Barack Obama’s inauguration. He clearly had access to a Black woman who is an actress because there is one in the skit. What is with the obsession? PPS. Tyler Perry does a much better Maya Angelo than Grier.
Black Male Comedians Obsessed With Cross Dressing- David Allen Grier as Maya Angelou (Hosanna Obama!)
November 7th, 2008 | Uncategorized
23 comments ↓
Hey Sister,
Trying to catch up with you. YOu ar enot following me on Twitter so I couldn’t DM. Email me lovebabz(at)gmail(dot)com
Also, have been feeling like Black women have been ridiculed way too much by Black men comedians. I like Tyler Perry and I do not find his portrayal of Madeia terribly offensive…however I do think you are onto something with noticing this trend….hhhmmm.
I have noticed this phenomenon. How strange! Maybe these comedians are secretly cross-dressers and are using their so-called comedy to display their true lifestyle. Hmmm….
The actress is very pretty and I’m slightly saddened she chose to participate in this skit. I really don’t think we should be enabling black males denigrate fellow black females even if it’s in the name of so-called comedy. It’s makes us, the black race look bad.
I did not watch this video clip. I knew I would get really angry.
I noticed this trend long ago. The Madeia character is the main reason I have not watched any movies of his. I saw one commercial for a movie with the Madeia character and vowed to never spend a penny seeing his stuff. I was judged as narrow-minded by a good friend that did not understand my problem with this. She feels I should support blacks that have ‘uplifting’ messages. Any portrayal of bm posing as bw is not uplifting when there are plenty of bw that can fit the bill.
In principle I find this trend deplorable. The minute I see this type of portrayal I absolutely refuse to partake of their entertainment ever again unless they stop the practice and renounce their previous work. All the mentioned comics have been on my boycott list for this reason alone (except for Eddie Murphy). I absolutely find these depictions disgusting.
Sidebar: I boycotted Eddie Murphy five minutes into Eddie Murphy Raw (I think that was the name of the HBO special–25 years ago or so). He grabbed his crotch and I was done with him. If Bill Cosby Himself could be absolutely hilarious with only one curse word (that fit the story BTW) within two hours, why do comics have to grab body parts, curse like sailors, insult and denigrate bw in order to be funny? There is more to this.
I can’t see the clip, but make sure you add Kenan Thompson of SNL to your list. I swear they only hired him to play BW. Does anyone notice MAD TV is the only show that gets it. I haven’t watched since they stopped doing Whitney Houston but they were the only one with a diverse cast
yeah i’ve noticed this too but always thought it was a subtle way of disrespecting black men — saying they are emasculated. so, i never thought much of it.
Black women are easy, ’safe’ targets. I haven’t watched any of Perry’s stuff, but in his defense Black media has done alot to boost his career. He’s even graced our magazine covers.
Sometimes we’re our own worst enemies!
This is not unusual at all. Milton Berle did this in the 1950’s. Flip Wilson was the first black comedian I ever saw cross dressing, and at that time people felt he was copying Milton Berle.
I heard a brotha who posted a video on YouTube who has been watching this for years.
His conclusion was “If you are a Black Actor in Hollywood, you either have to get shot in the butt or put on the dress.” in order to get what you want green-lighted for yourself.
The examples he gave were all on point!
Many years ago the actor Isaiah Washington wrote an article in Essence Magazine on this very issue. He said that when he first got started in Hollywood, he was always offered roles to dress up as a Black women or the “flaming” gay guy. He felt that this was due to whites feeling more comfortable with Black men in that capacity versus seeing their full humanity. It was the three-fourths human mentality that is somewhat plaguing Hollywood. He made sacrifices in his career at that time because he always turned down these types of roles. Also, Dave Chapelle mentioned this issue. This may have been one of the reasons why he left his show on the Comedy Channel. He felt that they wanted to “dumb” him down.
Last year or earlier this year another article was published in either Essence or Ebony on the same subject, especially the whole “Madea” factor. I believe it was written by Jill Nelson. She felt that it disrespected and stereotyped the image of Black women and emasculated Black men.
This is a good dialogue that needs to be continued and discussed openly in our community.
actually Grier already did this bit years ago on SNL, way before Tyler Perry, I actually thought it was funny, granted I was like 12. I still have not laughed nor have I been entertained at anything Tyler Perry produces.
If black men dressing up as women is ‘emasculating’ to black men, why should that be of any concern to black women? The fact that few if any black men complain about it should tell you that they don’t see it as an insult to themselves.
What black women should pay attention to is the way it denigrates black women. Why get a black woman when you can get a black guy to dress up. It is also to diminish our femininity.
I stopped watching 30 seconds into it. No point in poisoning my mind!
hi there-
someone said it here already. the trend is indeed a two-fer. it is insulting to both black women and men. i tend to agree with Jallimaster, we should focus on our interests as the reasons for wanting it to stop.
another observation. with the exception of the snl cross-dresser, i can say from personal experience that the other males seem to very much be at odds with their sexuality. there appears to be a conflict with image and reality. i for one am not interested in trying to sort it out. i just want the cross-dressing to cease because of the damage it does to black women. simple.
blessings all,
focusedpurpose
I don’t understand how black men dressing up as black women to relay certain stereotypes about black women is any different than blackface. Eddie Murphy is one of the chief bafoons in this movement.
@Womenfolktalk.
“He felt that this was due to whites feeling more comfortable with Black men in that capacity versus seeing their full humanity.”
I agree. My main problem is that black men have yet to fight against the viscious stereotypes of their sexual prowess, aggressiveness, etc., because they see it as beneficial. I think black men see their overmasculinity as a powerful/positive stereotype, because it’s the source of where they draw immense amounts of privilege. This seemed to be Dave Chapelle’s motivation when he addressed the black male actors who’ve have had to dress as a woman to get roles.They are not all to uncomfortable with their king-kong stereotypes, unless occassionally white men are threatened by it. Even when this is at the expense of black women. You can’t have your cake and eat it too.
Alienation-
i agree, there is no difference between black men cross dressing to ridicule black women for a laugh and blackface. no difference whatsoever. this is all the more reason black women must stand up, speak out, and work together diligently to shut down the (mis) behavior. accusations of hyper-sensitivity, being overly emotional, delusional, or any of the other darts offenders and their supporters will throw in an effort to silence us must be ignored. well behaved women do not make history.
if more black women would wake up and embrace the notion of reciprocity, we could save ourselves and daughters a lot of time and money to build our interests.
i, too, have noticed that most black men have no problem being depicted as over-sexed beasts. they will stand in silence knowing full well that over sized genitalia and great masculinity in all black men is a lie. it isn’t a myth, it is a bold lie. in fact, rather than just be truthful, large numbers of black homosexuals will remain closeted all of their lives (while cross dressing and ridiculing black women if an entertainer) just so they can maintain the lie(s) about black manhood.
i for one won’t play along. i am inspired and my resolve is strengthened by Gina and a few other bloggers that refuse to tow the line. i am eternally grateful.
blessings all,
focusedpurpose
Hmm, I’m actually not a fan of the girlfriends show (I don’t know the name of it). I actually liked Living Single, so I don’t know why I didn’t like the newer version of it (in a sense).
But, you know men (in general) have been dressing up as women for quite some time. Tootsie, Steve Martin’s movie, an old Tom Hanks show (buddies? something), and sometimes a few women dress up as men. I can think of a few movies. But, I can never remember the names of them.
Want to lighten your mood? Imagine what your show would look like if you wanted women to impersonate men. We’d been banned in a heartbeat. LOL.
We would be banned in a heartbeat!
I don’t watch 30 Rock, but I did see they have a clip of Tracey Morgan in drag. So you can add him to the list of the crazy ones.
These guys get to wearing dresses, because they are drug-addled. They don’t care.
It is worth noting that one would never see the top white male stars dressing up as white women. Yet the most famous black men do.
Has no one on this page ever seen Mrs. Doubtfire? John Lithgow did it on 3rd Rock. Even Jack Benny did it, Michael J. Fox, White men have been doing it as far back as 1926 (Elis Ellis, Charley’s Tant)
http://books.google.com/books?id=7hgQRVaWL-gC&pg=PT311&lpg=PT311&dq=crossdressing+milton+berle&source=bl&ots=ZTgOIxaB6W&sig=3RBxUmkEgCQ-hLuCmdgFFDnzaF4&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=6&ct=result#PPT69,M1
Chocolate News is pure wackness.
Didnt you know? Black women’s very existence is comical and worthy of being made fun of!
I’m also surprised that these men are still playing dress up. In terms of being a comedian, time for some new routines, boys.
Wow! Lovely! I think they chose Grier because he truly favors Maya. Dang, it’s amazing. But I think that you are taking this too seriously. The very black women that they are making fun of actually find it amusing themselves. Maya is a person of Artistic Views. Her mind is so open to so many things. She doesn’t approve of the vulgar language that is used by so many young people but she doesn’t condemn them for it.