Billy Dee Williams backs actors wearing blackface: ‘Do anything you want to do’

nypost.com:

Bill Maher, 68, on an episode of his “Club Random” podcast.Williams touched upon the idea when he mentioned legendary screen star Laurence Olivier covering his face with dark makeup for the 1965 film adaption of “Othello.”The William Shakespeare play centers around a Moor — a person of Muslim descent who lived in parts of Europe during the Middle Ages — military lieutenant who is fighting against the Ottoman Turks.“When he did ‘Othello,’ I fell out laughing,” Williams said.“He stuck his ass out and walked around because Black people are supposed to have big asses,” he continued.

Maher then chimed in: “And Bradley Cooper thinks he’s got a problem with the nose.”The “A Star Is Born” director, 49, caught flack last year when he wore a fake prosthetic nose to portray composer Leonard Bernstein in his biopic “Maestro.”The costume sparked outrage among the Jewish community, who saw the nose as a stereotypical characterization of themselves.Williams went on: “I thought it was hysterical.

I love that kind of stuff.”“Today, they would never let you do that,” Maher added about using blackface.“If you’re an actor, you should do anything you want to do,” the “Mahogany” star said. “You should do it.”Maher then noted that Williams once “actually lived in a period where you couldn’t do that.

Where you couldn’t play the part.”“But it didn’t matter,” the “Batman” actor replied. “The fact is . . . you don’t go through life feeling like, ‘I’m a victim.’ I refuse to go through life saying to the world, ‘I’m pissed off.’ I’m not gonna be pissed off 24 hours a day.”Elsewhere in the chat, Williams and the “Real Time With Bill Maher” host debated whether the youth of today are too soft.