Ted Danson apologized once again for his controversial blackface roast of Whoopi Goldberg back in 1993 at the New York Friars Club.
The 78-year-old actor, who recently revealed he had a ‘health scare’ that was ‘humbling,’ further expressed his regret over the incident during an appearance on the Who’s With Me? podcast.
Danson had performed the infamous bit on stage over three decades earlier, with the star previously saying that it had been approved by Goldberg herself at the time.
The pair, who had struck up a relationship the year before, announced their split following the backlash over the roast.
‘I need to and want to apologize for the rest of my life because somebody today can go on the internet and go, “What the f***? Wow, I feel betrayed, I feel angry.” And I did that,’ the Cheers alum told host W. Kamau Bell.
He explained that both he and Goldberg, whose romance was already coming to an end, had initially tried to get out of doing the roast.
Ted Danson, 78, apologized once again for his controversial blackface roast of Whoopi Goldberg back in 1993 at the New York Friars Club
‘I need to and want to apologize for the rest of my life because somebody today can go on the internet and go, “What the f***? Wow, I feel betrayed, I feel angry.” And I did that,’ the Cheers alum told host W. Kamau Bell; seen in 1993 at the New York Friars Club
But due to high ticket sales, the pair ended up going through with the event.
Danson then gave insight into his thoughts and what led to choosing that specific material.
‘So my brain was going, okay, here is one of the most outrageous, funny Black women in the world. And I’m supposed to be roasting her and I’m not a stand-up, I can’t run with the bulls.’
The actor explained that he decided to do ‘performance theater.’
‘And I looked at all these tapes and it’s like, well if I were Black, I could say all these outrageous things.’
Danson said that his brain jumped to the idea of doing blackface and admitted to thinking he ‘could pull this off’ at the time.
The Good Place star said that he regretted thinking ‘this white guy could have something valuable to say about race and race relations.
‘Within 20 seconds, I was like, “I stuck my finger in a light socket”… I thought I was doing a satire on mixed relationships, and I thought I was being edgy.’
‘So my brain was going, okay, here is one of the most outrageous, funny Black women in the world. And I’m supposed to be roasting her and I’m not a stand-up, I can’t run with the bulls,’ the actor said
Danson said that his brain jumped to the idea of doing blackface and admitted to thinking he ‘could pull this off’ at the time
‘Within 20 seconds, I was like, “I stuck my finger in a light socket”… I thought I was doing a satire on mixed relationships, and I thought I was being edgy,’ he added; Danson and Goldberg seen in Made In America (1993)
When he took to the stage in 1993, his intentions were not to be hurtful.
‘Your intentions do not matter,’ Danson said on the podcast. ‘The impact you have on people is what matters. And if you haven’t thought through that, then you need to.’
The Hollywood actor later called the roast ‘wrong’ before adding that ‘it was stupid.’
‘I apologize again to anyone who’s listening, that I was arrogant enough to think that I had something to offer.’
He briefly mentioned Goldberg who ‘has had to defend me over the years, sweetly and gracefully.
‘So the last thing she probably wants to do is be put in this position again.’
Danson previously expressed his regrets over the roast during a conversation with NPR’s Fresh Air in 2009.
‘It was definitely a graceless moment in my life,’ he admitted.
‘Your intentions do not matter,’ Danson said on the podcast. ‘The impact you have on people is what matters. And if you haven’t thought through that, then you need to’; seen in 2025 in NYC
‘We were no longer actually going together at that moment and we had tried to back out of, you know, of doing this, and they said no, no, no, you have to contractually, you have to.’
He also explained that Goldberg ‘knew about it and had kind of signed off on it and thought it was funny, so I thought, okay, I’m going to go for it.
‘Fifty percent got it, liked it. Thirty percent got it, hated it. Twenty percent didn’t get it and hated it.’
In the midst of the roast, TV host Montel Williams walked out while the then-NYC mayor David Dinkins also left early.
Danson added that he had been at ‘a very adolescent point in my life where I thought, you know what, I can do whatever I want…’
Goldberg came to Danson’s defense amid the backlash and their split was announced soon after.
The former couple struck up a romance back in 1992 while on set of the movie Made In America when the actor was still married to Casey Coates.
Earlier this month, Danson revealed that he recently underwent a ‘health scare’ which had ‘humbled’ him.
Danson previously expressed his regrets over the roast during a conversation with NPR’s Fresh Air in 2009. ‘It was definitely a graceless moment in my life,’ he admitted; seen in 1993
Earlier this month, Danson revealed that he recently underwent a ‘health scare’ which had ‘humbled’ him; seen above on Cheers in 1989 with Woody Harrelson
‘The last thing that kind of hit me that was very liberating was I had a bit of a health scare. I’m totally fine, but it was like, “Oh, well, that’s real,”‘ he said on his own podcast titled Where Everybody Knows Your Name.
‘And it was humbling. “Oh, mortality is uh it’s the real deal, you know. It’s not just a rumor. Ted Danson doesn’t get a free pass. Love his work, but…”‘
The star added, ‘And I hadn’t f***ed up in some way. So, I couldn’t go, “Oh, Ted, [wags finger].”‘
Danson expressed that the health scare, which he didn’t specifically disclose, inspired him to change his lifestyle and said it was ‘the best thing that could have happened to me.’
