Thursday, March 28, 2024

George Takei Apologizes for Calling Clarence Thomas ‘Clown in Blackface’

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*George Takei recently came under fire when he told a reporter he disapproved of Clarence Thomas objection on the high court’s landmark same-sex marriage case.

“He is a clown in blackface sitting on the Supreme Court,” Takei said. “He gets me that angry. He doesn’t belong there.”

His anger came after hearing Thomas’ dissent on the marriage equality ruling in which the judge argued that “slaves did not lose their dignity (any more than they lost their humanity) because the government allowed them to be enslaved. Those held in internment camps did not lose their dignity because the government confined them.”

Thomas’ remarks hit a chord with Takei, whose family was interned by Americans during World War II.

On June 26, the Supreme Court ruled 5 to 4 to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide, overruling state attempts to ban such unions.

In a Facebook update posted on Friday afternoon, Takei, who is gay, said, “I owe an apology. On the eve of this Independence Day, I have a renewed sense of what this country stands for, and how I personally could help achieve it.”

Takei clarified that his remarks about Thomas, were not meant to be racial:

“I recently was asked by a reporter about Justice Clarence Thomas’s dissent in the marriage equality cases, in which he wrote words that really got under my skin, by suggesting that the government cannot take away human dignity through slavery, or though internment. In my mind that suggested that this meant he felt the government therefore shouldn’t be held accountable, or should do nothing in the face of gross violations of dignity. When asked by a reporter about the opinion, I was still seething, and I referred to him as a “clown in blackface” to suggest that he had abdicated and abandoned his heritage. This was not intended to be racist, but rather to evoke a history of racism in the theatrical arts. While I continue to vehemently disagree with Justice Thomas, the words I chose, said in the heat of anger, were not carefully considered.”

Takei apologized for personally attacking Thomas instead of the content of his argument:

“I am reminded, especially on this July 4th holiday, that though we have the freedom to speak our minds, we must use that freedom judiciously. Each of us, as humans, have hot-button topics that can set-us off, and Justice Thomas had hit mine, that is clear. But my choice of words was regrettable, not because I do not believe Justice Thomas is deeply wrong, but because they were ad hominem and uncivil, and for that I am sorry.”

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