Image Source: Maj. Guy Hayes / U.S. Air Force, via Wikimedia Commons
What Was the Accusation?
Actor Ted Danson faced widespread criticism after appearing in blackface while serving as toastmaster at an October 8, 1993, Friars Club roast honoring actor and comedian Whoopi Goldberg in New York City. Danson and Goldberg were romantically involved at the time. During the private roast, Danson wore dark makeup with exaggerated white lips, repeatedly used the N-word, made racially charged jokes, and incorporated sexual jokes about his relationship with Goldberg. New York City Mayor David Dinkins publicly criticized the routine as vulgar and far over the line, while television host Montel Williams walked out and later announced his resignation from the Friars Club.
Goldberg defended Danson after the roast and said she had participated in developing the material. Danson later explained that the performance had been conceived partly as a response to racist commentary and tabloid treatment surrounding their interracial relationship. In a 1993 television interview, however, Danson and Goldberg did not offer the kind of unqualified apology that Danson would make decades later. The controversy remained attached to Danson’s public image and periodically resurfaced online.
On June 3, 2026, Danson revisited the incident during an appearance on W. Kamau Bell’s podcast Who’s with Me? He said he wanted to continue apologizing for the performance for the rest of his life. Danson described his belief that he could use blackface to make a meaningful statement about race as arrogant, stupid, and entitled. Although he explained the thinking and circumstances that preceded the routine, he repeatedly said those explanations were not excuses. He also apologized to Goldberg for having been placed in the position of defending him over the years. Danson ultimately rejected his intentions as a defense, arguing that the effect of his conduct on other people mattered more than what he believed he had intended.
Key Apologia Strategies:
Mortification, Good Intentions, Defeasibility, Corrective Action
Video
Transcript
Ted Danson — Who’s with Me? with W. Kamau Bell, June 3, 2026 — Selected Excerpts:
“I know what was in my heart, so I have no problem talking about this, but I need to and want to apologize for the rest of my life, because somebody today can go on the internet, you’re right, and go, ‘What the f–k? Wow, I feel betrayed. I feel angry,’ whatever. And I did that.”
“Whoopi, I apologize if you’re listening to me talking, but Whoopi and I had had an affair and it was ending and we actually asked the Friars Club — we had already agreed to do it and then our relationship was ending — and we said, ‘Well, we should get out of this,’ and they said, ‘We will sue you.’ They had sold so many tickets.”
“I’m not a standup. I can’t run with the bulls.”
“If the material’s funny, I can be funny. So I was like, ‘Ugh, what am I going to do?’ and then I thought, ‘Well, I can do performance theater. So I’ll do performance theater.’ I looked at all these tapes and it’s like, well, if I were Black, I could say all these outrageous things. I’m not. Then my mind went, ‘Well, I’ll do it in blackface.’”
“That this white guy could have something valuable to say about race and relations was so stupid and entitled. I thought, ‘I can be Robin Williams. I can pull this off. I know it’s bold, but I can pull this off,’ and that was so arrogant and stupid on my part.”
