Sarah Silverman Got Dropped From A Movie Over An Old Blackface Sketch

Source: Joseph Marzullo/WENN.com / WENN

Sarah Silverman Reveals She Got Dropped From Movie Over An Old Sketch

Once you do blackface, there’s no really getting away from it.

Sarah Silverman was on a recent episode of Bill Simmons’ podcast, and during the interview, the comedian reveals that she was dropped from an upcoming film because of a 2007 episode of her Comedy Central show The Sarah Silverman Program, in which she wore blackface.

“I recently was going to do two days on a movie, a sweet part in a cool little movie, then at 11 p.m. the night before they fired me because they saw a picture of me in blackface from that episode,” Silverman told Simmons. “So they hired someone else who’s wonderful but who’s never stuck her neck out.”

She went on to add that she didn’t fight their decision to fire her, but also stated that “it was so disheartening, it just made me real, real sad because I’ve kind of devoted my life to making it right.”

The segment where Sarah did blackface that she is referring to occurred in Season 2 Episode 3 of The Sarah Silverman Program, during an episode where Silverman paints her face to see if it’s harder being black or being Jewish.

Of course, since the sketch aired over a decade ago, Silverman has apologized and made it clear that she’s not the same person today. Last year in an interview with GQ, the comedian said she no longer stands by the episode.

“I don’t stand by the blackface sketch,” she explained at the time. “I’m horrified by it, and I can’t erase it. I can only be changed by it and move on.” She went on to say, “That was such liberal-bubble stuff, where I actually thought it was dealing with racism by using racism. I don’t get joy in that anymore. It makes me feel yucky.”

Though she doesn’t agree with the content she put out in 2007 and expresses regret over it, she also made an argument against cancel culture.

“I think it’s really scary and it’s a very odd thing that it’s invaded the left primarily and the right will mimic it,” she said on Bill Simmons’ podcast. “It’s so odd. It’s a perversion. It’s really, ‘Look how righteous I am and now I’m going to press refresh all day long to see how many likes I get in my righteousness.”