Comedian and podcaster Adam Carolla defended his friend, late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, on Saturday night, saying “context” must be taken into account when judging an actor or comedian who plays a character on blackface.
“I can tell you that we have to make a definite difference between the black face and making a character that turns out to be black,” Carolla said as she appeared on Fox News ‘”Watters’ World”.
“If we want to remove Jimmy Kimmel from the equation, we can focus on Jimmy Fallon. Jimmy Fallon is doing Chris Rock. He is doing it in a context. There is a context for that. Okay.”
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Carolla was referring to a similar incident in which Fallon, now host of NBC’s “Tonight Show”, was criticized for appearing black-faced to portray Rock when Fallon appeared in a sketch for “Saturday Night Live.”
“Jimmy Kimmel is doing Karl Malone. Jimmy Kimmel is doing Oprah. Jimmy Kimmel is doing Snoop Dogg. There’s a context. It’s comedy,” Carolla said of ABC presenter “Jimmy Kimmel Live” and former Comolla co-host of Carolla. Central’s “The Man Show” (1999-2004). “We need to keep the jeweler’s loupe when it comes to comedians.”
“We need to keep the jeweler’s loupe when it comes to comedians.”
Kimmel apologized Tuesday after being criticized for using a black face in old sketches where he posed as former NBA player Karl Malone. Other routines have recently come to light, such as imitating rapper Snoop Dogg’s voice for a song filled with “N-word” on a 1996 Christmas album.
Watters pressured Carolla about it and asked if he understood the “negative effects” of the black face.
“You understand that black Americans, when they see white Americans in many contexts, whether it’s comedy or something, when they put on darker makeup or whatever it is on their skin, it really has a negative effect because of the history of that,” he said. Watters to Carolla. .
“They shouldn’t,” Carolla said, defending his opinion on the matter. “They should see everything in context. What is going on? We will have to start talking about the difference between what is intentional and what is.”
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“Was there a rope hanging in Bubba Wallace’s garage? Yes, there was. Was it for him? No, it wasn’t. Okay,” Carolla said, referring to the incident regarding the NASCAR driver. “Let’s put a little context on things. Katy Perry makes shoes that are black and makes a smiley face. Is a shoe blackened? I mean, we’ve lost our minds. Adults need to start talking.”
Fox News’ Tyler McCarthy contributed to this report.
