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Tyson = Most Racist Character in a Long Time

posted 10 years ago by jaybeebrad
6 replies | jump to latest

"The character, meanwhile, struts around like an idiot in a bad music video, speaking black street talk as if he learned it phonetically, and pulling out a gun and holding it to a man's head because he thinks, obviously, that pulling guns on guys is expected of any authentic black man. A scene like that would be insulting in any other movie; here it possibly distracts him from doing something even more debasing."

This is Roger Ebert's comment (slightly reworded) on Carmen Electra in "Dirty Love," but I am applying it to the character of Tyson, played by Brad Williams, in "DeadBeat". In a show that goes out of it's way to be politically incorrect in the stupidest, least funny ways, Williams takes the cake by being blatantly racist. Also, he's a little person, in a casting choice that screams "We'll cast a white little person to play a wanna-be-black-gangsta-drug-dealer, because anything funny is automatically funnier if we cast a little person!"

Bonus - I found the original Backstage casting announcement for the character, which specified an interest in actors of every race BUT black...just in case you think the "wanna be black" "joke" was unintentional. Seriously, hasn't this shtick been done to DEATH?

[–] ToHelenBackAgain 10 years ago

You missed the joke. It's that the audience is continually set up to expect a little-person joke, and we never get one! Instead it's all about him thinking he's black. The point is in the subversion of expectation. That's where the humor lies.

This is still very lowbrow humor, of course. Maybe it was beneath you. I couldn't fault you for that. This kind of silliness is not to everyone's taste.

But it certainly isn't racist, and it isn't mocking little people. Quite the opposite on both counts.

"Fewer." "What?" "Nothing."

[–] Ipecac314 10 years ago

Exactly. It's the little-person joke that you expect, and he twists it to him being white. I find it funny.

[–] General_Haberdashery 9 years ago

But it certainly isn't racist

According to a lot of people these days NOTHING is racist.
Even blatant racism.

[–] ToHelenBackAgain 9 years ago

And others see it in everything.

I don't have much patience with either of those mind-sets.

"You're going to advise me. While you can still speak in complete sentences."

[–] doggie_rodriguez 9 years ago

According to a lot of people these days NOTHING is racist.
Even blatant racism.

According to a lot of people EVERYTHING is racist.

Even farts.

[–] ker007 9 years ago

Agreed.

I love the show, but I have to admit both Tyson and Roofie represent pretty harsh stereotypes of the black community. People expect minorities to act certain ways due to what they see on Rap videos and on their favorite tv shows. In part its a self-fulfilling/feeding cycle.

I think that was, in ways, intentional by the show's writers. The show plays of many oversimplified stereotypes. I guess in an effort to be more of a black comedy ( honestly, no pun intended ).