Billy Crystal used to play Sammy Davis Jr. in SNL in the early 80s in blackface. I don't think it was as talked about as much back then as it is today.
On a side-note, when I was in an airband in high school in 1989, there was an announcement that "this was the last year that students were going to be allowed to do blackface during the assembly." The object of this very popular event at our school was to emulate bands as closely as possible, and we had maybe 4 African American students in the entire school, it had become a bit of a staple to do blackface as part of the show.
Our band was doing Oingo Boingo. so we didn't do it, but I remember one band doing an "Untouchables" song that was made up of entirely blond-haired, blue-eyed guys in blackface. Like I said, it may have been taboo back then, but it wasn't talked about as much in the media.
On a side-note, when I was in an airband in high school in 1989, there was an announcement that "this was the last year that students were going to be allowed to do blackface during the assembly." The object of this very popular event at our school was to emulate bands as closely as possible, and we had maybe 4 African American students in the entire school, it had become a bit of a staple to do blackface as part of the show.
Our band was doing Oingo Boingo. so we didn't do it, but I remember one band doing an "Untouchables" song that was made up of entirely blond-haired, blue-eyed guys in blackface. Like I said, it may have been taboo back then, but it wasn't talked about as much in the media.
