After Jimmy Kimmel apologized Tuesday for appearing in blackface to impersonate NBA star Karl Malone and other Black celebrities years ago, his friend Adam Carolla offered his support.
On his daily podcast "The Adam Carolla Show," the host ranked Kimmel "in my top three of all-time of decent people I've ever met in my life."
"He is the most decent person you've ever met. He is the most generous person you've ever met," said Carolla, who hosted co-hosted Comedy Central's "The Man Show" with Kimmel from 1999 to 2004. "If everyone was like Jimmy Kimmel, we'd be living in a (expletive) utopia."
Carolla's remarks came the same day that Kimmel, responding to criticism of his appearances in blackface years ago, issued a statement apologizing for his impersonation of Malone and other Black celebrities on radio and "The Man Show," which reveled in flouting socially acceptable behavior.
Mea culpa: Jimmy Kimmel apologizes for 'embarrassing' blackface sketches, says he's 'evolved'
"I have long been reluctant to address this, as I knew doing so would be celebrated as a victory by those who equate apologies with weakness and cheer for leaders who use prejudice to divide us. That delay was a mistake," Kimmel wrote in a statement released Tuesday.
The ABC late-night host said he "never considered that this might be seen as anything other than an imitation of a fellow human being, one that had no more to do with Karl's skin color than it did his bulging muscles and bald head."
Whereas Kimmel was contrite about the blackface appearances, Carolla, choosing a different tack from his former co-host after seeing "The Man Show" and #CancelKimmel trending on Twitter, took issue with some of the criticism.
First, he believes comedians, by their nature, challenge social conventions.
"Could we remove the jewelers’ loupe and the spotlight from comedians? Politicians, OK, they’re making policy … even coaches or moms or dads, fine. Comedians are there to push things,” he said.
He also sought to differentiate doing an impression of a specific Black celebrity from blackface in general. (Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines blackface as "dark makeup worn, as by a performer in a minstrel show, in a caricature of the appearance of a Black person.")
"I was saying this years ago and I meant it. Blackface is something. Doing Karl Malone is something else or doing Oprah is something else. … That is not blackface," Carolla said.
He said people doing or saying things not considered out of bounds years ago should not be "canceled" because such actions are now considered offensive. "It's not acceptable now. If somebody does this now, then we must look at it as something very different from then."
Carolla also tried to remove race and politics from the equation, referring to corporal punishment in schools that occurred decades ago. "If you meet anyone over 45, they'll tell you they got paddled, they got swatted, the teacher would smack them with a ruler. … Paddling a kid sounds pretty outrageous in 2020 and nobody would stand for it. … But the people who engaged in it at the time when it was common practice or had a context, we don't need to build a time machine so we can cancel-culture them."
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June 24, 2020 at 10:01AM
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Adam Carolla backs Jimmy Kimmel but says Karl Malone, Oprah impressions are 'not blackface' - USA TODAY
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