Kevin Hart hosted “Saturday Night Live” over the weekend and in one of the funnier skits, he played the Oscar-nominated star of “Beasts Of The Southern Wild,” Quvenzhane Wallis. While I laughed at his portrayal of her infamous muscle-flexing move, I couldn’t help but think, “There goes another Black man searching for crossover success in Hollywood.” Black actors dressing in drag for laughs has been a debate ever since the 70’s when Flip Wilson found popularity in his sassy female character, Geraldine Jones.
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Fellow funnyman, Dave Chappelle said in an appearance on Oprah, “I connect dots that maybe shouldn’t be connected. When I see that they put every Black man in a dress at some point in his career, I be connecting the dots, like why do brothers always have to wear a dress?” He goes on to say, “You’ve got to take a stand.”
Check Out Dave Chappelle’s Story Of Refusing To Wear A Dress:
Chappelle made it a point that he’d never put on a dress for laughs because he think it’s unnecessary because he’s already funny. However, other comedians like Martin Lawrence, Eddie Murphy and Tyler Perry have no qualms putting on a dress for our entertainment and it seems “TV’s First Black Superstar,” Flip Wilson was the man who started it all. During “The Flip Wilson” show, he’d put on a pair of pantyhose and his finest dress and deliver side-splitting laughs.