{"id":613506,"date":"2026-06-05T11:50:18","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T11:50:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=613506"},"modified":"2026-06-05T11:50:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T11:50:18","slug":"cheers-star-apologizes-for-blackface-stunt-at-whoopi-roast-more-than-three-decades-later-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=613506","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Cheers\u2019 star apologizes for blackface stunt at Whoopi roast more than three decades later"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Actor Ted Danson had something that he wanted to get off his chest. The \u201cCheers\u201d star has apologized for a tasteless blackface stunt at a roast for comic Whoopi Goldberg that took place more than three decades ago.<\/p>\n

During the October 1993 event at the New York Friars Club, Danson delivered a monologue while wearing a top hat with his face painted black with a large white circle around his mouth, skewering Goldberg with whom he had an interracial relationship, making crude jokes about their sex life and her anatomy.<\/p>\n

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During a recent stop by W. Kamau Bell\u2019s \u2018Who\u2019s With Me?\u2019 podcast, Ted addressed his 1993 blackface scandal \u2026 when he made a total fool of himself for the Friars Club Roast of his then-girlfriend Whoopi Goldberg. Even in 1993 \u2026 the dumbfounding decision was blasted in the\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/rMlxqJegzg<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 TMZ (@TMZ) June 3, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The tasteless routine was so offensive to host Montel Williams that he \u201cstormed off the dais at the roast,\u201d The New York Times recalled<\/a>, and then-Big Apple Mayor David Dinkins, who is black, described Danson\u2019s jokes as \u201cway, way over the line.\u201d\u00a0 Goldberg, who would later go on to become one of the co-hosts on \u201cThe View,\u201d has defended her ex-boyfriend.<\/p>\n

Now 78 years old, Danson is apologizing for the offensive stunt.<\/p>\n

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Ted Danson wants to \u201capologize forever\u201d for doing black-face during the roast of his former girlfriend, with whom he was having an affair, Whoopi Goldberg.<\/p>\n

Ted Danson, who gained popularity from the show \u2018Cheers\u2019, was having an affair with Whoopi Goldberg in 1993, when he was\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/JZDsgGIyMb<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 E X X \u27a0A L E R T S (@ExxAlerts) June 4, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cI have no problem talking about this, but I need to and want to apologize for the rest of my life because somebody today can go on the internet, you\u2019re right, and go, \u2018What the f**k? Wow, I feel betrayed. I feel angry,\u2019 and whatever. And I did that,\u201d Danson said during a conversation<\/a> with W. Kamau Bell on the comic\u2019s \u201cWho\u2019s With Me?\u201d podcast.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was so arrogant and stupid on my part,\u201d he added in his belated mea culpa for the insensitive appearance that has dogged him for more than thirty years.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo my brain was going, OK, here is one of the most outrageous, funny black women in the world at that point, and I\u2019m supposed to be roasting her,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I\u2019m not a stand-up. I can\u2019t run with the bulls,\u201d Danson said, recalling what was in his mind at the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, if I were black, I could say all these outrageous things,\u201d he continued. \u201cI\u2019m not. Then, my mind went, well, I will do it in blackface. That will be funny or not, but it\u2019ll, like, be \u2014 oh, I have license to.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought I could pull this off. There\u2019s no one that\u2019s been whiter than me in the world,\u201d the \u201cCheers\u201d star added, also apologizing to Goldberg.<\/p>\n

\u201cPoor Whoopi Goldberg has had to defend me over the years, sweetly and gracefully,\u201d Danson said, also recalling the reaction to the off-color routine, which, as he described it, was a major blunder.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithin 20 seconds, I was like, I stuck my finger in a light socket,\u201d he told the host.<\/p>\n

As the nation\u2019s racial discourse took a turn for the toxic during the Obama years, unearthed pictures and videos of a person wearing blackface were a guaranteed career killer \u2013 that is, unless you happened to be a liberal celebrity who carries water for the Democratic Party.<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s time for ABC to do the right thing and FIRE Jimmy \u201cBlackface\u201d Kimmel! pic.twitter.com\/QAc510dGV2<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Proud Elephant \"\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\"\"\ud83e\udd85\" (@ProudElephant) April 27, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Photo resurfaces of Joy Behar in blackface for \u201cbeautiful African woman\u201d Halloween costume https:\/\/t.co\/CxfbAPHDha<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/jCZm5gD1xS<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 The Hill (@thehill) February 8, 2019<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cTwenty percent of the crowd gets this and thinks it\u2019s pretty cool and gets it. Thirty percent of the crowd gets it, and f**king hates it. Fifty percent of the crowd didn\u2019t get it and f**king hated it and hated me. And I kept going,\u201d Danson recalled of the reaction at the time. \u201cMy poor manager said he couldn\u2019t open the door into his hotel room because there were so many messages stuck under the door.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Actor Ted Danson had something that he wanted to get off his chest. The \u201cCheers\u201d star has apologized for a tasteless blackface stunt at a roast for comic Whoopi Goldberg that took place more than three decades ago. During the October 1993 event at the New York Friars Club, Danson delivered a monologue while wearing… Continue reading \u2018Cheers\u2019 star apologizes for blackface stunt at Whoopi roast more than three decades later<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":613486,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[20,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-613506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economic-empowerment","category-national-security","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=613506"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613506\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/613486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=613506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=613506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=613506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}