Today's Evil Beet Gossip

In Defense of Lindsay Lohan

The Internets are all abuzz with talk of how Lindsay Lohan, in an interview with Access Hollywood, spoke of Barack Obama, saying “It’s an amazing feeling. It’s our first colored president.”

Meanwhile, Bond boy Daniel Craig said that “after Barack Obama’s victory I think we might have reached the moment for a coloured 007.”

And we all know that “colored” is not a particularly PC term here in the U.S., but I don’t think either of these people were trying to be offensive. In fact, as I understand it, calling someone “colored” is perfectly acceptable in the UK. And why are we allowed to say “people of color” but we’re not allowed to say “colored”? The semantics confuse me.

Anyway.

I’m giving Lohan a pass on this. She’s not racist, she didn’t mean to be racist, she just misspoke. You want racism, look to Paris Hilton.

Hey, who wants to see the row-boat blow-job scene from Georgia Rule again?

50 CommentsLeave a comment

  • In the UK you don’t say ‘black’ as a race, it’s considered derogatory.

    There’s currently a move to ban using ‘British’, due to its controversial nature.

  • Take a US History class and pay close attention to the section on the Civil Rights Era if you don’t get why “colored” is unacceptable in the US. I didn’t realize you were such a dumbass.

  • Yeah, I didn’t think the either statement was offensive at all, even given their differing contexts.
    I mean, it’s usually considered okay to say ‘person of color’ but not ‘colored person.’ Issues of semantics can get ridiculous.

  • Having a mixed race family tree; it’s all in the “delivery” and the “perception” … the one time I said African American to my sister-in-law, she said, “wtf, I was born in Brooklyn.” So it was black from then on; strangest thing, the further south you go, the mixed race marriage is more socially accepted… there shouldn’t be a problem with any word, term, phrase, as long as it’s not derogatory or meant to be hurtful.

  • Haha, wow. I didn’t even read your whole post before I wrote the EXACT SAME THING. I think we’re soulmates.

  • I have to admit that I had always thought the term was considered offensive, though I never really knew why. However, someone recently reminded me that the NAACP stands for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Now I’m just confused! It’s just not a term I would use anyway though.

  • masquedance- it’s because the organization was est. in 1911 (or thereabouts). They just haven’t changed it.

  • “Colored” is an oddly anachronistic word for 22 year old Lohan, and taken out of context, it would certainly be offensive. But she was gushing with genuine excitement about Obama’s election. So I don’t think it’s a matter of simple “pass” or “fail” – I think it shows that racism has to be peeled away in layers, from the blatant to the unintentional.

    I hope Lindsay is motivated to understand just why a word she probably picked up from her (likely less well-intentioned) parents evokes a profoundly vile chapter in US history. And I hope that rather than point fingers, we all keep trying to peel back our own layers, however they manifest.

  • @Beet: I’m with you, Beet Czar, and Hallie. In this case, I think the obvious sentiment and context of her statement is one of admiration of not only Obama, but that the US has taken a step forward. I’m sure she’d be horrified to learn that her statement was taken as derogatory.

  • Oh politically correctness. Pretty soon we won’t be able to speak because we just might offend someone. People need to toughen up. Any word can be used to slam someone, it’s all in how you phrase it so who cares?

  • I agree. I mean…. it’s not like “colored” is the N-word.

    And also, I actually watched a clip of her saying this. I cannot even be positive she said colored? It’s hard to tell.

    For me personally, I would only think someone is racist if it seemed like they FELT it…. like… had she been AGAINST Obama, and then they asked her what she felt about the election, and she was all “OMG I can’t believe we have a colored president” — I think that would have been taken a lot more poorly.

    I sometimes feel weird using the word black. Sometimes I do not even know what word I am supposed to use :(

  • no, I wasn’t being sarcastic. A company I worked for was headquartered in the UK, and they were filtering our email as offensive if the word “black” was in it. Which was especially unfortunate for the poor woman in the office whose last name was Black.

    They also filtered out all emails that mentioned an old guy named Richard if he was referred to by his shortened name.

  • My sixth grade teacher had an actual flyer for the slave trade, it was one of the things she would bring out during our black history month lessons. The paper advertised Negros for sale which is why I still refuse to use that word.

    Mrs Soborski was awesome!!

  • Mother nature gave the earth people of all colors, just one of many basic physical differences among us. I don’t see anything wrong with using the term…it’s a fact of life. Humans assigned the labels.

  • Re: tvf

    Saying ‘Black’ in Britain is certainly not frowned upon.
    Although if that’s what happened in your company then I can understand what you mean.

    I’ve lived here all my life and it’s never been an issue calling someone ‘Black’

  • in regards to:

    tvf Says:
    November 11th, 2008 at 6:02 pm
    no, I wasn’t being sarcastic. A company I worked for was headquartered in the UK, and they were filtering our email as offensive if the word “black” was in it. Which was especially unfortunate for the poor woman in the office whose last name was Black.

    They also filtered out all emails that mentioned an old guy named Richard if he was referred to by his shortened name.

    hahhahahaa

  • “Huh, thank you for explaining the negative connotation that it has.”

    Actually, Huh did nothing of the sort and there’s a lot more to the word ‘colored’ than a simple ‘history says it’s bad’. I’m sick of listening to white people argue about what to call us. It changes every 20 to 30 years and the previous word is considered derogatory. And if the NAACP isn’t willing to change the name, then complain about them before you complain about some has been teen star.

    Personally, I hate being called ‘African American’ and ‘person of color’ is even worse. Are white people lacking of color and actually European Americans? As someone mentioned earlier, we’ve come full circle when ‘colored people’ is bad but ‘people of color’ is great. Politically correct white people make me sick. These are the same people that think the ‘N word’ is acceptable amongst black people. BTW, the most racist, anti semetic, homophobes I know are black people but we can’t talk about that, as according to many whites black people can’t be racist or commit hate crimes.

    To sum it all up. IT’S ALL IN THE INTENT.

  • @Krz: Ha ha ha… gotta laugh at Bogans. Sporting a gelled mullet, 4 teeth, and a Ute. (I was going to also say a “MARON’S” bumper sticker, but didn’t want to upset any Queenslanders (or my brother-in-law!) :-)

  • @Krz: Nice link. Sadly, looks like the Tazzies are giving up on the Taz Tiger and focusing their efforts on their search for Bogans! :-)

  • Are you people fucking kidding me??? Calling a black person colored is NOT acceptable. Regardless of intent, whether someone is “gushing” about someone or not. It’s absolutely ridiculous Beet that you can never understand why things are the way they are. You simply don’t use colored or negro anymore. It’s either Black or African-American. PERIOD.

    And you don’t need to take an African-American History course to know this. It’s fucking common sense! Be respectful of others and quit being confused. It’s the same as Oriental and Asian. You say Asian now. Keep up with the times and stop bitching about semantics. Seriously.

  • I am a Black African and I will tell you that ” Colured” is an actual racial category in South Africa, if you check their census statistics they actula class 4 main races, Black, White, Colured and Indian, as in colureds are mixed race people whole self define as colureds as many are 2nd , 3rd generation mixed race people. Infact in Zambia and Zimbabwe the mixed race communittes refer to themselves as colureds or goffals. I dont know why, but they just do!

    So I suppose it is a matter of self definition and how it is delivered and whter the intention is to cause offense or not!

    Paris is a raciist herpes ridden slut!

  • omg…i’m tellin’ you, lindsay will get you. maybe not today. maybe not even 2moro but the more you may dis-like her now, will be all the more you crave her later.
    agree with the beet. she just mis-spoke. she was one of the few celebrities early on to publicly support obama. check the blog. mmmmk?

  • this is too funny to me..
    hes MIXED so he’s not black OR white..he’s colored. i think its fine to use it
    and grace…i’m pretty sure there’s been issues when blacks have been called african americans…because surprisingly a lot of black folk aren’t actually from africa..
    what’s next? will black be an issue because your skin color isn’t technically black. should we call them sienna..bronzed..chocolate..

  • I am English and I would just like to say that calling someone “coloured” is NOT acceptable in the UK in any context.

  • Of course, it’s intent that matters, but given it’s history, the word shouldn’t be in anybody’s vocabulary.

    I blame it on her stupid parents.

  • Nahh “coloured” in the UK’s not acceptable. I think it sounds strange, like someone’s been coloured in…it’s hard to describe. People take offence to whatever they want these days though…

  • @ liz

    on that count then whites shouldnt be called white ( other than Dita Von Teese ofcorse) then more like pink, pinkish beige , orange ( for those who have alove of the fake bake).

    Iam Black, but look more like milk chocolate mixed with caramel and my mama and brother look like dark chocolate!

    whattever your skin tone its all good we are all part of God’s rainbow!

    but I agree with some people above saying cloureds in the UK is a definate no no!

  • My son, who is five, says that his friends are brown or peach. He says they are dark brown and light brown, light peach or red peach. I love the innocence in his statements.

    I have told him that I would prefer that he remember their names and just define each friend by that, but then I feel like I am already starting to embed my own intent into his little mind.

    I think it is really frustrating to hear every black person in America tagged as African-American. That would be like if everyone called me French-American…dude, my family has been here for four generations. The only reason I find it acceptable with President-elect Obama is because he is, in fact, African-American.

    I must say, my skin crawls when I hear my husband’s grandmother say colored, but I understand that it is a generational difference. It surprises me that someone as well-traveled as Lohan would still use such a dated term. It speaks volumes as to how she was brought up.

  • @ Erin

    your son sounds cute! thats just like my 6 year old niece, her and her little friends say light/dark brown or light/dark vanilla and its adorable, it would be lovely if the whole world thought like that but alas with age comes racial profiling and stereotyping!

  • I live in the UK and I don’t think that to call someone coloured is offensive, but then I suppose (as has been pointed out) it’s all about the intent rather than the words. Lindsay and Daniel are obviously using ‘coloured’ in a positive context… To harp on about words as offensive, when the meanings and the connotations they have are constantly changing seems to be rather endless. pointless even.

  • vinandi-
    never did i say white people shouldn’t be called peach or fake n bake. i simply said whats next with the limitations we have when referring to someone’s race or color or whatever.
    i know definitely thought that if someone were to call me white or pink or even a honkey or cracker i wouldn’t take offense to that because i’m secure enough with myself that i know i am not anything but what i refer to myself as (warm ivory..duh)
    and if anyone did want to refer to me as something that is not politically correct then so be it. freedom of speech anyone?

  • @erin: i love that…kind of like a box of crayons! in any case i find it really strange that lindsay would use the word “colored”. seriously, i haven’t heard that word used by anyone under 60. i’m willing to bet she said or meant person of color. as for the terms it is hard to know what will offend and what won’t. i just say black, white or biracial.

    @liz: of course you wouldn’t be offended at being called white or honkey, because neither of those terms carries the weight of lynchings, slavery etc with it. don’t be daft.

  • i personally don’t like how Obama is categorized as “African American” like his decent is only of Africa, He is mixed. he came out of a Caucasian woman, and i think people discount that too much. i find the term “colored” more appropriate for this reason, then “Black” which seems to represent people of strictly African decent. i am not taking into account that some people may feel the that the word “colored” is derogatory for historical reasons that were not of my generation.

    is the term Malado derogatory? doesn’t it mean mixed caucasian and African heritage?

    On a side note, my husband is Caucasian and African at the same time, hes Egyptian and there for falls under the definition of Caucasian but his country is part of Africa, so to say someone of African decent has to be what most would reefer to as “Black” is not at all true. My husband looks more Greek or Italian then he does Kenyan. The same would apply for most of the African countries that boarder the Mediterranean and Red seas.

  • rachael-
    thank you. you put exactly what i was thinking into words. and especially thank you for stating about how the term “colored” WAS derogatory in ANOTHER GENERATION.

  • The word colored is a word that I only hear old women use when they talk about the good ol days. just say I’m black. Thank you!

  • @ Liz

    Spoken like a white woman who has never faced racsim before and therefore can not truly understand what it means to be discriminated aganist!

    @ Racheal- Egyptians are not classed as caucasians but as Arabs! and most Africans are black!

  • Only ignorant people say “coloured” and think its okay and justify others for doing it too. If you have no place commenting on the issue, then…just don’t! Mmmkay?