Is blackface always offensive?

[Rev. Rye]

I think racist jokes are fine, as long as the butt of the joke is the racist. Like, if you were to don blackface to make fun of the people who donned blackface in order to insult black people. I honestly say racial slurs all the time, but the joke isn't on the race in question. I'm laughing at how ridiculous the joke sounds. I don't know if I'm explaining that right, but there it is.

Like in Blazing Saddles?





That would seem a clear manifestation of the sort of spirit you’re trying to convey. You’d have to be an idiot to see this and NOT think the ignorant racist assholes are the butt of the joke.

(Fun fact: Burton Gilliam, who played the racist foreman, kept apologizing to Cleavon Little for having to use the N-word, and he had to take him aside and say it was okay since they weren’t his words (they were Mel Brooks’ and also Richard Pryor’s, since it was apparently his idea to drop all those N-bombs in the script) although he added that "If I thought you would say those words to me in any other situation we'd go to fist city, but this is all fun. Don't worry about it.")