Sarah Silverman Claims She Was Fired for Blackface Photo from 2007

Actress Sarah Silverman claims she was fired for a blackface photo taken on the set of The Sarah Silverman Show in 2007.

Silverman made the claims during an appearance on The Bill Simmons Podcast. Silverman stated, “I recently was going to do a movie, two days on a movie, a sweet part in a cool little movie. Then, at 11 p.m. the night before, they fired me because they saw a picture of me in blackface from that episode.”

Silverman did an entire episode in blackface on her comedy show The Sarah Silverman Show in 2007. It was the third episode of Season 2 titled “Face Wars.”

She continued, “I didn’t fight it. I said, ‘Hey, I actually addressed this last year in an episode of my show. It wasn’t because anyone saw it. I exposed myself. Listen, I’m not that person anymore.’ I didn’t go to a f****** Halloween party in the 80s in blackface. I was doing an episode about race. I understand that it’s never okay and blah blah blah. Not to blah blah blah it.”

She added, “They hired someone else who is wonderful but who has never stuck their neck out. It was so disheartening. It just made me real, real sad because I really kind of devoted my life to making it right.”

Earlier in the podcast, Silverman discussed cancel culture, “I think it’s really scary and it’s a very odd thing that’s invaded the Left primarily. And then the Right will mimic it, ‘Oh this isn’t okay then we’ll say we’re offended by this.'” She continued, “I see it on the Left. This cancel culture. I call it righteousness porn.” (Related: Nick Cannon Defends Kevin Hart, Calls Out Media’s Double Standard With Homophobic Tweets from Chelsea Handler, Amy Schumer, and Sarah Silverman)

Silverman elaborated:

“It’s like, if you’re not on board, if you say the wrong thing, if you had a tweet once, everyone is, like, throwing the first stone. It’s so odd. It’s a perversion. It’s really, ‘Look how righteous I am and now I’m going to press refresh all day long to see how many likes I get in my righteousness.'”

She had previously denounced her sketch on The Sarah Silverman Show where she appeared in blackface in an interview with GQ. She told them, “Comedy by nature is not at all evergreen. So if you’re doing it right, you look back at your old stuff and you’re horrified. I don’t stand by the blackface sketch. I’m horrified by it, and I can’t erase it. I can only be changed by it and move on.” (Related: Disney’s Wreck-It Ralph Actor Sarah Silverman: Mike Pence Is “Hate Mongering, Fear Based Weasel”)

Silverman continued, “I was praised for it! It made me famous! It was like, I’m playing a character, and I know this is wrong, so I can say it. I’m clearly liberal. That was such liberal-bubble stuff, where I actually thought it was dealing with racism by using racism. I don’t get joy in that anymore. It makes me feel yucky. All I can say is that I’m not that person anymore.”

What do you make of Silverman admitting she lost a job due to her sketch where she appeared in blackface?

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