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WESLEY SNIPES DEFENDS RACE CARD: Actor says his blackness is as much of a target to the feds as his alleged tax fraud.
*After laying low for a minute following eight counts of tax fraud, Wesley Snipes is suddenly everywhere – in Las Vegas at the Floyd Mayweather fight, in random paparazzi photos and giving his first major interview since being indicted in October 2006.
In an Entertainment Weekly article titled "Wesley Snipes Breaks his Silence," the actor explains why he believes his black skin is at the root of his federal charges.
"It was easy for people to jump on the 'Wesley's the bad guy' bandwagon," he says. "That's where I think the systematic racism comes in. We're conditioned in this country to believe that if there's a problem, the black man is the culprit."
As for being in Namibia when federal prosecutors were looking for him, Snipes said,
"They positioned it like, 'He's irresponsible, dangerous, guilty, this is why he's in Africa' . . . All these things, they play into our stereotypes . . . They think I'm an evil dude."
Snipes also believes that racism is to blame for the failure of his 2004 movie, "Blade: Trinity," saying, "There are so few guys who do action and do it well. Even fewer who are African-American. Even fewer who have classical-theater training. So a cat like me coming in, I'm bringing all of that to an action movie. Since there are so few people that do this and have that pedigree, people disregard their contribution."
Snipes' case is scheduled to go to trial next month in Florida.
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