In addition to the members from the executive branch of the Commonwealth of Virginia who are inaugural members of the Blackface Hall of Shame, let me hereby nominate and induct some more members.
Sarah Silverman" In May, Silverman apologized for a 2007 sketch in which she wore blackface on the Sarah Silverman Program. “I don’t stand by the blackface sketch,” she told the Hollywood Reporter in May. “I’m horrified by it, and I can’t erase it. I can only be changed by it and move on.” In the sketch, she plays a racist character who lacks self-awareness about her racism, saying, “I had no idea how cruel white people could be to us. I think I need to be with my own kind, now,” before entering a church full of black people.
Silverman said that even though she knew the sketch was wrong at the time, it didn’t harm her career at the time. “I was praised for it! It made me famous! It was like, I’m playing a character, and I know this is wrong, so I can say it. I’m clearly liberal,” she said. “That was such liberal-bubble stuff, where I actually thought it was dealing with racism by using racism. I don’t get joy in that anymore. It makes me feel yucky. All I can say is that I’m not that person anymore.” - Jezebel.com
CNN has compiled a list of other contemporary entertainers who wore blackface, including Billy Crystal, Ted Danson, and Joni Mitchell. Fred Armisen famously darkened his face for years to play Barack Obama on “SNL.”
No apology is enough to wash away the sin of blackface. They should all be treated like Rosanne Barr was treated.