Entertainment

The 13 Most Racist Entertainment Moments of 2013

If anything, 2013 might just've been the year of the racist. Accidental, On Purpose, and Oblivious kinds: each racist got their share of the spotlight. And that's downright despicable and all-around horrible, wouldn't you say?

But for those of us a bit more self-aware of the scary-thin line of race-based humor, it sure is hilarious to sit back and watch as more and more facepalm-worthy moments cropped up throughout the year. It's a real turning point in our country's history: never before was the audacity of casual and on-purpose racist behavior so overt. But maybe these people's follies will pave the way for a more informed and less insensitive future. Or maybe people will just continue to be dicks. Who knows! But we will say this: if next year can top this year's bigoted bozos, that will be a truly impressive feat.

Needless to say, 2014: you've got your work cut out for you.

by Alicia Lutes

Miss America Isn't White and Apparently That's Not Alright?

Since when is being a whitey McWhiterson the only real requirement to being considered a “Real American”? Apparently, since Nina Davuluri was crowned this year. Seems her Indian heritage was all too much for some people (read: racists) to handle, as it threw the Twitterverse into a frenzy of hatred and general idiocy.

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Big Brother 15: Where Everyone's a Racist (But Especially Aaryn and GinaMarie)

It takes something truly horrific to land yourself atop the heap of Reality Show Racists, considering what happens when people “stop being polite” and start showing their ignorance. And the housemates on Big Brother 15 really, truly took the cake. Several of the contestants on this season of Big Brother were discovered to be horrifyingly bigoted when their raw, unedited remarks were caught on camera and broadcast on the Internet via the 24/7 live feeds. Two contestants (GinaMarie Zimmerman and Aaryn Gries) ended up losing their jobs due to the comments — a practice the girls were so well-acquainted with (being racist assholes), that it became THE major storyline of the season, forcing CBS to remind its viewers that those opinions expressed by the contestants were, oh thank god, not their own.

Julianne Hough Dons Blackface

For Halloween 2013, nothing seemed more of an obvious no-go than blackface. Maybe it’s the old-fashioned gal in me but something about altering your skin pigment for comedic purposes just doesn’t really fly. But it seems Hough’s bronzer was up for the challenge of ultimate humiliation when she went as Orange Is the New Black character Crazy Eyes with a group of friends who seemed totally not-at-all worried that their famous friend would maybe get called a racist for such a gaffe? Mormons, man.

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The Oh-So-Outdated Racism of 'The Roast of James Franco'

C’mon, really y’all? If you’re going to be racist, at least be clever about it — that’s what Aziz Ansari says, anyway. During The Comedy Central Roast of James Franco, Ansari felt the heat (probably from the hot dog machines) of a barrage of 7-11-related attempts at humor. And to think, some plucky young comedy hopefuls probably wrote those jokes and got paid for them. The horror.

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Kenan Thompson Doesn't Think Funny Black Women Exist

There’s just no excuse for saying there aren’t enough funny black women out there to cast on Saturday Night Live. Lucky for us this one has the one-two punch of racism and misogyny: a twofer! Hooray!

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Whitewashed Emmy Awards

Ellen Pompeo was the first to sound off on the seemingly whitewashed Emmy Awards this year, and we can’t say we disagree. Hollywood’s stories and its actors are just as diverse as the rest of the country, so why can’t it seem to laud anyone other than the white folk?

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Is She Just Being Miley?

Miley Cyrus, Queen of All Things Controversial, was mired in her own race-drive controversy leading up to the release of her new album, Bangerz. It seems the singer didn’t take too kindly to criticism of her latest sound, some even calling it a co-opting of African American culture.

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Julie Chen Eyelid Surgery Reveal

It was bad enough poor ChenBot Julie Chen had to deal with the awful, no good, very bad racists over on Big Brother. But it’s been (ugh slash no surprise slash everyone is the worst) a long road paved with racism that the TV personality’s had to face. So Chen’s admission that she felt forced into have eyelid surgery to make herself look less Asian is unsurprisingly disheartening racism at its finest.

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Brownface! And More Aziz Drama, This Time on 'SNL'

Jeez, Saturday Night Live really doesn’t understand race at all, do they? As if the recent drama surrounding the “everyone on this damn show is white” thing wasn’t a hard enough pill to swallow — their attempt at parodying Aziz Ansari by putting brownface on Nasim Pedrad during a 50 Shades of Grey casting call was another major dud. Hey SNL, it’s not funny: you need to get your outlook on race together!

The Overt Racism of 'Accidental Racist'

There are just not enough eye rolls in the world for the Brad Paisley/LL Cool J tune ”Accidental Racist,” where the duo rap about chains and slavery and baristas judging t-shirts. There are literally not enough bullshit parades in the world to herald this song’s complete tone deaf idiocy. Praise Xenu there’s no sequel to this one in 2014.

Christopher Polk/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

K-Pop or KKK-Pop?

The recent trend of Korean pop stars dressing in black face is a confusingly bizarre one, but none was so offensive as that of G-Dragon. The pop star posted a photo on his Instagram account looking like what many people considered to be a Trayvon Martin parody. The singer later clarified that the photo was a “HUGE misunderstanding” and merely G-Dragon trying on different face paints for his album cover. Mmmhmmm.

'The Daily Show' Gets a GOP Racist Fired

Every so often, there’s a silver-lining to a sad racist story, as was evidenced by The Daily Show this year. When the comedy news program sat down with North Carolina GOP County chair Don Yelton, they probably didn’t expect the incredibly offensive and racist interview they received. But it proved the point of the segment so brilliantly, we can only imagine there was a tear in the eye of the producers who made it. Luckily the asshat was forced to resign. Racism doesn’t always win! Hooray!

Paula Deen and The Great N-Word Debate

Oh, Paula Deen. Paula, Paula, Paula. See what happens when you admit to calling black people the N-word and suggest that having black waiters dressed as house slaves for an Antebellum South-themed wedding is a “lovely” idea? You get called a racist. You lose a lot of support for your business endeavors. And well you should — especially when you get more emotional over losing a cookbook deal than the pain you inflicted on those around you. Because that is racist as fuck — doesn’t matter if you were raised in the 1960s or the 2060s (fingers crossed children of the future are more tolerant). Some things are just not going to OK after all.

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