The cliché may have remained online for less than 24 hours on Instagram, the controversy continues.
Gérard Darmon drew the wrath of social networks during Easter Monday by making up his face and neck in black.
“Othello for Marleau”, explained in legend the actor of 73 years, star of the series of Netflix
Family Business
and which will soon be with the poster of an episode of the successful detective series of Corinne Masiero.
Except that Internet users did not see Shakespeare's hero there but a "blackface".
And Internet users to give a history lesson to Gérard Darmon.
In the 19th century, the “blackface” consisted for a white theater actor to paint his face to play a caricature of a black person.
In the United States, this practice was widespread until the emergence of the struggle for civil rights.
Faced with the outcry, Gérard Darmon tried to explain himself in a comment:
“What is happening to you?
I'm talking about Shakespeare's Othello.
Laurence Olivier.
Orson Welles.
Pierre Brasseur (Claude's father) and a multitude of others.
What are you talking to me about with black faces [sic].
So calm down, don't sue me and if there's any time left, (re) read Shakespeare.
I am a free actor and if one day I want to do a biopic on Mao Tse-Tung, I will do it ”
.
In vain.
The support of some famous friends like Édouard Baer who answered “Bastard everything is going to you”, did not calm the spirits either.
The previous Antoine Griezmann
Faced with the deluge of outraged reactions, Gérard Darmon ended up removing the cliché from his Instagram feed.
But the debate continued well on Twitter.
Some Internet users have also recalled that in Shakespeare's play, Othello is presented as the “Moor of Venice”, but the playwright of the Court of Elizabeth I does not go further in his description.
The debate is not settled by the exegetes: is Othello of North African origin or does the word “Moor” which designate someone with dark skin also apply by extension any black person from Africa sub-Saharan?
Gérard Darmon is not the first celebrity to be accused of blackening his face.
Footballer Antoine Griezmann had to apologize after a fancy dress party.
Controversy had also been raised in the world of classical music, particularly in the field of opera and ballet.
Across the Atlantic, the debate had flared up in 2019. The presenter Jimmy Fallon, the dancer Julianne Hough had made their mea culpa.
