He may have played a freed slave out for revenge in Django Unchained, but Jamie Foxx has found that you can’t get away with murder in the real world.
The actor and comedian drew sharp criticism for a racially charged comment he made during an NAACP awards ceremony earlier this month. While accepting the Entertainer of the Year Award at the 44th annual NAACP Image Awards, Foxx said: “Black people are the most talented people in the world. I, it’s, I can’t explain it. You can’t sit in this room and not watch Gladys Knight sing and go like, “Golly, what in the world?”'
Conservative news sites were quick to pick up on Foxx’s quip.
Writer Noel Sheppard from NewsBusters, a site which claims its mission is to expose media bias towards the left, labelled Foxx’s remark as “really stupid”.
“Can you imagine the heat a white actor would get if he said at a nationally televised awards ceremony, ‘White people are the most talented people in the world?’” Sheppard wrote. “Probably be the end of his or her career.”
Another site, Red Alert Politics, said Foxx’s comment was a “backhanded” criticism of “performers of all other races”.
“Foxx shouldn't ignore other talented actors and singers who may not share his skin color.”
Jamie Foxx is no stranger to controversy. He was criticised for comparing US president Barack Obama to Jesus, and many weren’’t impressed by the jokes he used to promote Django during a recent “Saturday Night Live” appearance.
In a skit, Foxx described his role in the movie as a freed slave who kills “all the white people in the movie...How great is that?”