“What [black women] were happy about was that [Mendes’ character] wasn’t white; she was Latina,” Diggs explains when asked why Will Smith’s role in the film didn’t draw as much cultural ire as some of the choices he’s made on- and off-screen. “That’s what they were happy about, if we’re gonna be real. That’s how the scale goes. First off, if it’s a dark brother and the dark brother isn’t with a dark sister that causes issues. … After that, if you’re going to date outside the race, then they go down the list of how poorly other minorities have been treated after blacks. [So] after that, you have Latino. … Like, I’ve had people say that about my wife: ‘At least she looks Spanish.’ Like that makes it a little bit better. So that’s why people accepted it. If Will Smith had been with a lily-white woman, it would’ve been a completely different situation in the black community as far as females are concerned. I guarantee you that.”
“I’m too far along in my life and in my career to really give a question like that any type of dignified answer,” says Diggs, who was raised in black, middle-class Rochester, N.Y., intones. “When I was in high school, maybe. College, maybe. But I’m a grown-ass man and if people have a difficult time dealing with that, then I welcome them to see a movie with Omar Epps or Denzel Washington or some of those other brothers that have chosen to spend the rest of their lives with sisters, as you say. I just don’t have time for it. You can’t make everybody happy. And for the fans that are out there that are into me; they don’t really give a f— what’s going on with my personal life.” (more here)
While Taye's scale theory is embarassingly accurate, Black women don't like Taye because...we don't like Taye. He's unappealing and unsexy. (Not Seal-unsexy, but unsexy, still.) I'm hesitant to say he's not "black enough" because he's not really white either. He's just not a man you can imagine being with.
His strong-jawed wife started looking real distant after she realized her man wasn't going to be the next Denzel. Or even the next Morris Chestnut.
I hope Taye knows, in all of his bitterness, that Black women have little to no say in his lack of mainstream success. (And he obviously wants mainstream success.) White men and women don’t want to see Taye with a white chic any more than Black women do. We're actually more forgiving.
If white people thought Taye was The Man (i.e., Will Smith) he'd still be employed. So he might want to redirect his anger to the blue eyes who yanked his show because they couldn't stand watching a field-slave-like negro fawning all over their "lily white" woman. (See: Terrell Owens and Nicole Sheridan and the uproar that caused.)
Brother Diggs surely has an image problem with our community. What's troubling to me is not that he has not tied the knot with a sister. My trouble is, I can't seem to watch him in any of the movies I enjoyed previous to him gettin hitched. You see, it's hard to believe a brother who made his way through his career playing a brother in black genre movies, etc. And then in "real life", goes another way. I am a brother who has no problem with brothers dating or falling in love with whom ever. Just don't take us for granted with playing the role of "Brother(s)", Brown Sugar, etc. and then we come to find out, it is just acting.
ReplyDeleteI'm offended by the implication that all white people are so racist that they can't stand to see an interracial couple. Some white people are like that but to stereotype and act as though we're all like that is incredibly disrespectful. I'm sure you don't like being stereotyped anymore than I do, as evidenced by this article. I feel as though Taye Diggs is stereotyping women of his own race to a certain extent in his statements. But back to my original point, I've dated outside of my race and not a single person close to me has had the slightest problem with it. My family, my good friends; I don't know a single one that has the slightest issue with a black man and a white women or vice versa. If love is present then we should just be happy for the people affected by it and race shouldn't be an issue. Besides, that's THEIR relationship. We don't really have a right to remark or criticize their personal decisions, regardless of whether or not they are famous. I say, let them be happy and love each other. There's already a frightening lack of love and compassion in the world. Do we really need to try to snuff it out where it exists simply because of different skin pigment? And Anonymous, how can you act as though he's betrayed you in some way simply because he "plays" a brother but didn't marry a sister? Of course it's just acting. HE'S AN ACTOR. It's not as if gay people have the right to be offended if a gay actor "plays" straight in movie roles. Jennifer Beals (a white women) has played a half black woman multiple times. It's acting, it's her job. It's not as if she's "betrayed" her whiteness by "pretending" to be part black for her job. It's just a job. It's not acting if you're playing roles exactly like yourself all the time. I'm sorry, Anonymous but that is just absurdity.
ReplyDeleteJennifer Beil is actually mixed. Thanks for your comment.
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