Trump’s only play, when confronted with literally anything, is doubling down on hatred—bigotry, sexism, racism, xenophobia, homophobia, transphobia, Islamophobia, whatever. That is it. It is the only thing that causes his white supremacist base to foam at the mouth with the virulent adulation he desires and causes…

Is it actual blackface? Is the audience supposed to think it’s blackface? Or is it just a portrayal of something else that comes off a little like blackface?

From the headline I initially thought this was the U.S. Supreme Court, and just thought “In 5-4 opinion by Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court overturns Cosby’s rape conviction” would absolutely be the most 2020 headline possible. 

Unless you’re talking about the most obviously racist thing possible, suggesting that anything might be racist or otherwise offensive or in poor taste will always be a minority position at the AV Club.  There are a lot of people very defensive about every aspect of their favorite content, and do not want to even…

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I still remember the massive backlash Ted Danson received when he did this, and that was in 1993. It has been a long time since blackface was considered anything but shocking and offensive.

several of these women were underaged at the time D’Elia propositioned them.

I mean, sexual harassment isn’t really illegal either, unless it occurs in an employment context. Among other accusations, he targets women he thinks he can sleep with, and is emotionally manipulative. I guess, depending on how he targets women, you maybe wouldn’t call it “sexual harassment,” but who really cares that…

I don’t think it was the “wrong address.” It was the wrong person, apparently the drug dealer they were looking for had sent packages to Taylor’s boyfriend’s address, which is the fact they used to get the warrant (which is a common, well-known, drug dealer tactic).

Except it kinda does.  Because the Supreme Court essentially gave him a blueprint to do it again.  There was nothing in there that said rescinding DACA was illegal, but just that the method they went about doing it was illegal.  So it remains on the table for him to do it again, the “right” way, and have it upheld. …

Not even nearly fucking enough. These pieces of shit barged into a sleeping couple’s home at 1 in the fucking morning, with a no-knock warrant obtained under flimsy pretenses. I just wish Taylor’s boyfriend had better aim; the world would be a better place if he had killed each one of these motherfuckers before they…

So?

Okay. Well, what if someone told you (say, someone black) that seeing someone using blackface for the sake of a joke doesn’t make them feel “wonderful and joyful” and doesn’t “delight”? You just dismiss those people because you find it funny?

Let’s give her the benefit of the doubt, and recognize that the widespread (though by no means universal) criticism the police have been subject to the last few weeks has probably been stressful (even though the criticism is valid I’m sure it’s a mindfuck for the self-worth of cops), and let’s even recognize that…

John Roberts is very concerned with the court’s legitimacy. The Trump administration has been testing that legitimacy over and over again by asking the court, over and over again, to bless some pretty blatantly unlawful (not to mention just straight up awful) shit. Roberts probably feels like he got played into…

I mean, the blackface wouldn’t be funny if blackface wasn’t so wildly offensive.

That is the point, man.  For anyone to think that part of the sketch is funny, they already have to think blackface is awful.  The sketch is not informative or educational.  It is not striving to make any particularly insightful point about the use of blackface.  It is using blackface for laughs.  That is it.  The…

There are already plenty of podcasts out there that explore how awful our criminal justice system is. To name a couple, Undisclosed explores it via the lens of possible wrongful convictions (starting with Adnan Syed, but you can skip season one if you’re fatigued by that story), and the third season of Serial is a…

Yes, it is.  It’s a comedy show.  The point is to make people laugh.  That’s why the blackface is used--to make people laugh.  You cannot divorce the use of blackface here from blackface’s ugly, racist history.  That history is critical to the humor--what makes it funny is that a virtue-signaling liberal is either…

What am I oversimplifying? In 2020 (or in 2015 when this sketch aired) no one needs a comedy sketch to understand that blackface is bad. This serves zero educational value. It is about getting laughs. That is the primary goal. And, in fact, the humor value of the sketch is premised on everyone who watches it already…