Posted on 10/25/2007 2:21:28 PM PDT by blam
Halle Berry apologises for 'Jewish nose' gaffe
By Matthew Moore
Last Updated: 1:40pm BST 25/10/2007
Halle Berry, Hollywood's leading black actress, has been forced to apologise after making a joke about the size of Jewish people's noses on a US television chat show.
The Oscar-winning star remarked that a digitally-altered photo of her face made her look like her "Jewish cousin", during an appearance on Jay Leno's Tonight Show.
As Leno squirmed and the audience sat in embarrassed silence, Berry appeared to appreciate the gravity of her error.
"Oh God, Have I just ruined my career?" she asked.
The word "Jewish" was cut from the dialogue when the show was broadcast on Friday night, but audience members leaked full details of the exchange onto the Internet, prompting Berry, a vociferous critic of Hollywood racism, to issue a full apology.
"I didn't mean to offend anyone. I didn't. I didn't mean any harm … It was just supposed to be a silly segment. I am so sorry, and I apologize," she told The New York Post newspaper.
The actress, 41, went on to claim that her Jewish assistant had actually come up with the nose "joke" backstage, whilst leafing through the distorted photos that were to be used on the show.
"I guess it was fresh in my mind and it just came out of my mouth. But I didn't mean to offend anybody," Berry said.
The photos had been created by Berry herself using computer software which allows people to warp their own images.
Three of her assistants were Jewish, Berry added.
The one-time Bond girl, who was close to tears during her phone call to the Post according to the newspaper, said that she had asked the programme's producers to cut out her remarks after she realised the offence they may cause.
Berry, who is four months pregnant, is currently in London promoting her new film Things We Lost In The Fire.
In 2002 she became the first black woman to win the Best Actress Oscar when she was honoured for her role in Monster's Ball.
She has also appeared in the Bond film Die Another Day, Catwoman and the X-Men series.
Very nice, Sue.
Success!, Success!, Success!
She has the decency to apologize, unlike other celebrities, who have perennial foot-in-mouth disease!
amazing how she keeps claiming to be black....
Me too.
Where there's a Halle Berry thread there's bound to be some Gabriel Aubry pictures posted.
For your viewing pleasure...
The last looks similar to Lewinsky.
Thank you Sue.
Us females need to post pictures too.
And this fellow....
well I’d do him.
thank you Maggie.
I’d do him too.
You ladies are making me tired.
I’d do all three of him.
What did her own nose look like before rhinoplasty?
| To: ClearBlueSky; laweeks; All
"[You] don’t get the identification with the black race only."
It's easy, and you probably are aware of it, even if you don't want to recognize it. Society. American society (European descended dominated) generally considers people with noticeable non-European ancestry as being that non-European ancestry (if one non-European ancestry). Do you think that this is not so? If society has been telling Halle Berry, Vanessa Williams, etc. that they are 'black' from a young age, can't you see how they might come to view themselves as 'black?' The same with a lot of 'hyphenated Americans.' Do you realize just how much [insert some word suggesting anger] they have to put up with being asked 'what country they are from' and being automatically labeled as 'Latino,' 'Asian,' etc. even though they are accentless or have the accent of their American region? A lot. If they are treated as foreigners over and over again--especially during their formative years--why shouldn't they come to see themselves as belonging in part to some foreign place (logically, not that they ought to). So stop putting all of the blame on them and pretending as though the European-descendant-dominated society does not bear the bulk of the responsibility for either people such as Halle Berry not going out of their way to acknowledge their non-African ancestry or for many hyphenated Americans and poor assimilation. You want Halle Berry to label herself black and white (should just be 'American)? Then get society to stop considering her black. You want non-European descendants without a foreign accent to stop being hyphenated Americans? Then get society to stop asking them what country they are from and labeling them as foreigners, and get society to start treating them as the American natives they are. (And note: not only European descendants do the above, but if you're bringing 'race' (and 'team identity') into this, then European descendants are both the majority 'race' and the 'race' most in charge of the leadership and the media, and thus are the primary trend-setters in American society). Posted on 10/25/2007 9:40:39 AM PDT by Jedi Master Pikachu ( What is your take on Acts 15:20 (abstaining from blood) about eating meat? Could you freepmail? ) |
ehhhhhhh.
She’s neither black or white. My skin is NOT white. Her skin is NOT black. I’m so sick and tired of people being put in boxes of color. It happened in South Africa and all the libs freaked out. But it’s OK here???
She’s a beautiful American actress who doesn’t appear too bright. But who cares? I watch her movies with the sound off.
Point well taken!
But- WE are society. Halle Berry, and every bi-racial and hyphenated American is ‘society’. It can stop with us. But people like Halle Berry have to take part too. Look at Tiger Woods- he gets livid when he is considered only black. He is proud of his mother’s heritage and won’t let himself be pigeonholed.
Berry doesn’t have to let herself be considered only black either. But- watch and see if she doesn’t consider her child black, despite the fact that it will be more Caucasian than she is.
High profile people like these can make it change faster than people like us.
Let me use myself as an example. My last name is VERY Spanish. My ancestors were from Spain, never saw Mexico in their lives. Still, based on the name alone, many Latinos think I can speak Spanish. They are astounded that I don’t know the language( heard French growing up), and have no connection at all to Mexico/S.America. They have their own mindset to break out of as well.
And there is a cynical part wondering whether there is just an attempt to reduce the number of successful African-descended people (not even to boost the numbers of European-descended people; it being more about pushing African descendants down rather than lifting European descendants up) by stating that Berry and others are not 'black' and that their success is due to their European ancestry.
A la the Japanese and the Russians after the Russo-Japanese War where the Japanese were 'promoted' by some Europeans conjecturing that Japanese had some [European] blood while the Russians were 'demoted' by some Europeans conjecturing that the Russians had diluted their European blood and had some Asian descent. Russians still would obviously be more European than the Japanese, but at least a fully European people wasn't beaten by a fully non-European one.
Hopefully the 'racism detector' is just throwing off a bad reading, and personally looking far too much into it, and your motives aren't nearly as sinister as the one posited in the last two paragraphs.
Still wonder if some of the people who do that though do have racism as a motive.....
And agree with you that Berry or other 'biracial' people should not denounce their European heritage. Personally don't view Berry or others as having done this just because she views herself as black. She can consider herself black and yet she readily is seen with her mother, and acknowledges her European ancestors as much as her African ones.
Maybe she'll ba a little more tolerant after this?
...naw...
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