Ted Danson apologizes for 1993 blackface stunt at Whoopi Goldberg roast

Ted Danson said he will 'apologize forever' for the 1993 blackface stunt at his then-girlfriend Whoopi Goldberg's roast, speaking on W. Kamau Bell's 'Who's With Me?' podcast on June 3. He praised Goldberg for how she handled the fallout, saying 'Poor Whoopi Goldberg has had to defend me over the years, sweetly and gracefully.' Danson recalled that he and Goldberg tried to back out of the roast but the Friars Club threatened to sue because it 'had sold so many tickets.' He said he wanted an over-the-top bit to keep up with the comics and that, after watching tapes, he thought 'if I were Black, I could say all these outrageous things,' which led him to perform in blackface and gave him a sense of 'license.' He called the decision 'so arrogant and stupid on my part' and said he had believed a white man could offer something valuable about race.

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