*Ted Danson says an apology he owes Whoopi Goldberg has no expiration date. More than 30 years after a blackface routine at her Friars Club roast, the actor revisited the moment on W. Kamau Bell’s podcast “Who’s With Me?“.
Looking back, Danson does not defend the choices his younger self made. He called the decision to perform in blackface “arrogant and stupid,” even as he tried to explain what led him there.
“That this white guy could have something valuable to say about race and relations was so stupid and entitled,” Danson said, TheWrap reports. “I thought, I can be Robin Williams. I can pull this off. I know it’s bold, but I can pull this off, and that was so arrogant and stupid on my part.”
According to Danson, the routine took shape over several months as he searched for an angle to roast “one of the most outrageous, funny Black women in the world”. As an actor rather than a stand-up comic, he felt out of his depth from the start. “I’m not a standup,” he said. “I can’t run with the bulls.”
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“If the material’s funny, I can be funny,” Danson added. “So I was like, ‘Ugh, what am I going to do?’ and then I thought, Well, I can do performance theater. So I’ll do performance theater.”
The roast itself almost did not happen. Danson said he and Goldberg, whose relationship was ending around that time, tried to withdraw from the Friars Club event. The club refused, citing ticket sales already in motion. “They had sold so many tickets,” Danson recalled.
“I know what was in my heart, so I have no problem talking about this, but I need to and want to apologize for the rest of my life,” Danson said.
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