Sandra Bernhard: Mariah’s only black when it helps sell records at We’ve moved to www.racialicious.com

Sandra Bernhard: Mariah’s only black when it helps sell records

CVK
(Thanks to bell579 and Janice for this one!) Actress Sandra Bernhard appeared on daytime talk show The View last week, and Star Jones asked about a remark Bernhard had made about being singlehandedly responsible for “the emancipation of Mimi.” You can watch the whole debacle for yourself on YouTube, but here’s a summary of what happened from EURWeb:

Bernhard has made jokes in the past about biracial singer Mariah Carey appearing to cash in on her blackness only when her more mainstream pop material became passé. Star, reading from the pre-interview notes on her blue cards, asked Bernhard to explain why she is now claiming responsibility for the success of Carey’s album, “The Emancipation of Mimi.”

Bernhard said it was her jokes eight years ago about Carey “being black only when it’s convenient” that led to the singer’s nervous breakdown, which eventually resulted in this current emancipation.

Trying to remain calm, Star hit Bernhard with a “girl please” and said Carey has always been open about being black. Bernhard joked to the audience that Star was about to go off on her. Star smiled and said, “I look too cute today to be going off on you,” then rolled her eyes back toward co-host Barbara Walters to continue on.

Walters said that Carey spoke openly about her African American father during their interview eight years ago. Bernhard finally gave up on the whole thing, shouting, “It’s a joke,” and telling Star she didn’t set up the story right.”

I think this clip really encapsulates several different myths that exist about mixed race people — many of which we discuss in our New Demographic workshop on this topic (see clips here).

Mixed people, especially those who are part white, are often accused of lacking legitimacy as people of color (”he’s not really black” or “she’s not Asian enough“). And more recently, we’re seeing more and more instances where mixed people are accused of exploiting their racial ambiguity for personal gain.

A sociologist named David Brunsma, for instance, is going around telling everyone who will listen (see here and here) that “multiracial individuals in some cases have both sets of choices, ‘to avail themselves of race-based scholarships as well as to attempt to distance themselves from solidarity with their brothers and sisters when the recognition of the racial distribution of privilege and resources remains.’”

Usually this kind of criticism comes from within communities of color. It’s a little surprising to me that Sandra Bernhard, a white woman, would jump on this mixed=advantageous bandwagon too.

Trackbacks & Pings

Mixed Media Watch - tracking media representations of mixed people on 29 Jun 2006 at 5:28 am

[…] Apparently he and Sandra Bernhard are on the same “hipsters like us are beyond race so it’s ok for us to spew racist garbage because it’s like, you know, meta and post-modern and stuff” bandwagon, along with Kill Whitey and Blackface Jesus. […]
July 2006 New Demographic Newsletter at New Demographic - an anti-racism training company on 01 Sep 2006 at 1:48 pm

[…] On the celebrity front, Angelina Jolie talks about adopting another child like it’s a matter of picking what curtains go with her pillows, and Sandra Bernhard goes on The View to accuse Mariah Carey of playing up her African-American heritage only when it helps her sell records. […]

Comments

CM wrote:

Sandra Bernhard is a disgrace!

Posted 26 Jun 2006 at 7:53 am ¶
Meg wrote:

and not funny

Posted 26 Jun 2006 at 8:22 am ¶
mtevc wrote:

she is terribly unfunny…and Sandra exploits the lesbian thing when she wants to…so she is so ridiculous

Posted 26 Jun 2006 at 9:51 am ¶
Gandalf Mantooth wrote:

CVK:

Sandra was at the epicenter of hipsterism. She was a hipster before there was such a term. So then . . . to my point about the audience at CSA and “why they were laughing” . . .

Posted 26 Jun 2006 at 11:17 am ¶
Sarah May wrote:

I was wondering when this would show up here…

Posted 26 Jun 2006 at 2:51 pm ¶
bertie wrote:

Well, I’m not a fan of benrharht but was what she said untrue? As noted in the previous post about the segregation/fragmentation of MTV along racial ethnic lines–the music business is notorious for marketing along “race lines.” They even invented a word for when music reaches outside its intended racial audience– the “cross-over.” Is it that hard to believe that Mariah plays/or at one time played along with these racial marketing schemes. Just because it may be a “stereotype” that mixed folks try to pick and choose which “race” they identify with for personal gain-doesn’t mean that Mariah hasn’t done just that in this particular case. I mean, its a common stereotype that black folks like fried chicken–but that doesn’t mean that someone would necessarily be stereotyping me if they said bertie likes fried chicken–especially if they saw me eating it on a couple of occassions.

Posted 26 Jun 2006 at 3:27 pm ¶
site admin wrote:

Mmmm that’s a good point, bertie. Record labels have hundreds of millions of dollars riding on the success of their artists and they spend a lot of time thinking about how to package and repackage their artists. One could surmise then, that Mariah’s pretty public shift from race-neutral back in the “Vision of Love” days to a more visibly “black” persona is the result of some deliberate marketing decisions. –CVK

Posted 26 Jun 2006 at 4:12 pm ¶
jay smooth wrote:

This doesn’t really surprise me cuz Sandra has always walked that line of race-related humor.. her best buddy and mentor in comedy is Paul Mooney.. I usually like her but she may take more license than she ought to sometimes.. hard for me to judge this Mariah stuff without seeing the actual routine in context.

Here’s a quote from NY magazine about Paul and her race-oriented material:

“I question her use of the word niggerish. “I have carte blanche to use that word from my friend Paul Mooney,” she says of the black comic who wrote for Richard Pryor. “I’m a card-carrying white-black girl. Plus, I have a huge black following, so, you know, it’s like a black person saying niggerish.” On cue, two fortyish black guys walk by the window, double-take, backtrack, tap the window, and wave — all smiles and thumbs-up. Bernhard waves back and shoots me a withering look: “I rest my case.” “

Posted 26 Jun 2006 at 4:21 pm ¶
Merq wrote:

Bertie & CVK:
I don’t know, man. I mean, let’s look at how Mariah came out… Back then, I really had no interest in her; she was just “that girl my sister likes.”

But even back then, as little as I knew of her, I knew she identified as half-black.

The point is that it’s the LABEL that controls stuff like this… and this is something she’s complained about ad nauseum (see numerous “Butterfly” and “Emancipation” references)

Let’s look at the material. Would anyone really call “Vision of Love” anything but an R&B single? It was damn-near Gospel. A lot of the material in her “Pop” days were actually very R&B. Plus, even at the height of her “Pop Princess” days (when she was selling 10mill a record), she hooked up with folk like Jermaine, X-Scape, Da Brat, and ODB.

When you think about it, nobody had done the pop princess/grimy rapper collabo thing before that. And interestingly, I wasn’t the least bit startled by the collaboration; I guess it’s because I always saw her music as R&B first, so the ODB collab had no real shock value for me.

Another reason I give her respect as far as the whole Hip-Hop thing goes is that when her career was pretty-much a punchline, everyone agreed that the one way for her to ascend to her former glory was to ditch the whole hip-hop thing and go back to the big, goopy “Hero” balladeering. Yet, she came out with single after single of poorly-received “urban” music.

Thus, when she says this is music she loves, I actually believe her.

As far as Bernhard goes, there’s a special place in hell for dumbasses like that. Look at the quote:

“Now she’s trying to backtrack on our asses, gettin’ real niggerish up there at the Royalton hotel suite with Puff Daddy and all the greasy, chain-wearing black men. ‘Oooh, yeah, Daddy . . . I got a little bit of black in me, too. I didn’t tell you that?’ . . . Do not try to compete with the fierce ghetto divas. Because they will go down, in, around, and off on your ass! . . . So don’t fuck with me, phony white bitch!’ “

GREASY, CHAIN-WEARING BLACK MEN? FIERCE GHETTO DIVAS?

And she isn’t racist?

Plus, I found Carey’s response to be disturbingly accurate:

“There’s never been a time when I didn’t spell out exactly what I am. But for some, I was still just a white girl. To others, I was a black girl who was just passing… It’s easy to take shots at me. No one feels like they need to protect me… If I was two shades darker, there’d have been people protesting for me.”

Posted 26 Jun 2006 at 7:17 pm ¶
Merq wrote:

As you can see, Bernhard really wasn’t on about any “mixed race advantage.” She was just being flat-out racist for an audience that would eat it all up.

Posted 26 Jun 2006 at 7:37 pm ¶
Stephanie B. wrote:

Ms. Bernhard is just a jealous old white woman who can’t stand Mariah Carey.

Stephanie

Posted 26 Jun 2006 at 8:20 pm ¶
Charlette wrote:

Bernhard is saying she is mo black than any racially mixed woman. Look at her she is mixed with her large features and curly hair. And so what? what does any of this ridiculous postering after a “name” mean? The european gave names to all of us accept themselves. In music you can’t do anything but dance like a puppet to their music because they know what buys the dollars and they don’t care if you are blue and white striped what is in is in. Get off Mariah and onto Bernhard who wants to blackwhite woman and real mixed blackwhite people can’t be as free as she is. This old place called America brainwashing crap.

Posted 27 Jun 2006 at 12:43 am ¶
Merq wrote:

wha?

Posted 27 Jun 2006 at 2:00 am ¶
bertie wrote:

Merq–thanks for posting the Bernharht routine. I don’t know which offends me more, the lack of humor or the use of “niggerish” and “greasy black guys.” And you’re right, I don’t believe Mariah ever denied being mixed, in fact it seems like she has a song on every album about that fact–but I do think those in charge of marketing her definitely made an effort to “whitewash” for lack of a better term her image initially. And you bring up an interesting point–Mariah’s early sound was very R&B–yet she was all over MTV and pop radio (outlets denied to many other r&b folks at the time.) Its the same deal with eminem, he is clearly rap–yet he gets played on rock stations, pop station, rap stations etc.–whereas others with a similar sound, but darker skin are limited to the rap station (unless it becomes a monster “cross-over” hit). So while I think Bernhardt’s routine is pitiful, her premise may or may not be on point. I just wouldn’t put it past Mariah’s management to make calculated decisions to market her one way to reach a certain racial demographic and then market her another way for another audience.

Posted 27 Jun 2006 at 1:03 pm ¶
Marsha wrote:

Bertie- I think the term “crossover” in regards to the music business is for any type of music that crosses over into the top 40 mainstream whether it be R & B, rap, alternative, country, etc. They used the term all the time in the late 80s and early 90s to describe alternative bands that had top 40 hits: “REM crossed over into the mainstream…” Or for country, “Shania Twain crossed over into the mainstream…” I don’t think the word is indicative of marketing on a race-conscious level.

Anyway, I always thought of Mariah as both pop and R & B. In a way, I don’t think Mariah is any different than Whitney Houston who was marketed to both audiences also (Along with Lionel Richie too when he went solo I mean, I must have seen Lionel’s clay head a million times on MTV in 1984! Oh, Michael Jackson was also marketed to both audiences.). The only difference is Mariah is darker than Whitney so she catches flack for appealing to both audiences.

In regards to Sandra B., Bell Hooks did an interesting analysis of her in her early 90s book “Black Looks” and about how she co-opt what she perceived as a black woman’s attitude for her own gain. She kind of reminds me of Michael Rapaport in that she thinks she has his free “negro pass” just because she hangs out with black people and therefore she thinks she can say what she wants- however insulting it may be.

Posted 27 Jun 2006 at 3:58 pm ¶
Staci wrote:

When I heard Sandra Bernhardt’s riff on Mariah Carey’s image change(back in 1996, I think.), I laughed. It is true. Prior to the Butterfly album, Mariah Carey had perpetuated a genial, denim-overall, crunchy-curls mall type image. Butterfly came out right after her divorce, and now she’s sleeked-out with Puffy and Mace in video. Her basic music style took three more steps over to true R&B, but her image became more sexy and “urban”. I think she co-opted the use of black rap stars to give weight to her “downness”(like Justin Timberlake). I think she is sincere in her love for Rap/R&B, but I think she puts herself in the mixed-up victim role too much. Plenty of other people have a similar background(Alicia Keys, Mya, Halle Berry) but manage to just get on with it.

As for Sandra Bernhardt’s original statement, would it be less racist if Chris Rock said it?

As for Sandra Bernhardt’s current statements, she is using drama to create publicity for herself. Ironic irony and super sarcasm can get old real quick.

Posted 27 Jun 2006 at 4:14 pm ¶
Merq wrote:

“As for Sandra Bernhardt’s original statement, would it be less racist if Chris Rock said it?”

I hope I’m not wasting my time dealing with you, but the answer (which I thought was obvious) is NO.

As far as her “sleeking-out” her image, you seem to gloss over 2 things:
1. this was her first video, post-separation.
2. she’d been with this dude since she was 18.

That sounds like a strong pair of reasons to either finally “be yourself” or to rebel against whatever controlling forces you were under. Consider the fact that at age 18, she couldn’t tart it up like many youngsters do from that age into their twenties. Consider the fact that her social circles pretty-much consisted of her husband’s middle-aged friends.

When you think about it that way, her hanging with Puff & ‘em could just have easily been about real life as you think it was marketing. And as far as her co-opting black rappers to make her seem more “down,” I have to ask you just how “down” she was trying to be when she did “Fantasy.”

I’m sorry, but when it comes to racial issues and the media, I have a lot of respect for Carey. So you comparing her to Justin Timberlake has me seeing red.

Posted 27 Jun 2006 at 5:35 pm ¶
brad wrote:

I have to agree with Merq. He seems pretty on target. Also, from Mariah’s first album hitting big, I remember the discussion of her mixed-race heritage. Also, it’s wrong to infer personal motivations on how her early career was marketed because as a young artist, the record labels have control on that. Remember, Tommy Motola not only managed her career but also became her husband.
After leaving Motola, didn’t she take on more control of her career?

Finally, Mariah has made numerous appearances on Oprah over the years. Does anyone remember how she described the racism her family encountered and survived as she was growing up in suburbia? It was pretty damn frightening.

As for Bernhardt, she really is disgusting. However, I don’t think there should be any surprise that a Caucasian woman would make such charges. Gender doesn’t discriminate against ignorance or prejudice.

Actually, this whole line of questioning reminds me of a lot A.D. Powell’s writings wherein she attacks mixed-race people who identify as “black.”

Posted 27 Jun 2006 at 8:28 pm ¶
Merq wrote:

“Does anyone remember how she described the racism her family encountered and survived as she was growing up in suburbia? It was pretty damn frightening.”

Precisely, Brad

It baffles me how Staci can sit there and say stuff like “mya, alicia and halle had similar backgrounds, but manage to just get on with it.”

What was so similar, besides the racial makeup of their parents’ unions? ‘Cause from what I remember, while they all (except mya, i believe) grew up without their fathers, they don’t seem to have stories as grisly as waking up at age 7 to find your car burned and dog poisoned.

Plus, Mya, Halle, and Alicia don’t face nearly as much opposition from a part of the black population as Mariah. I heard Essence magazine received a record number of complaints for running a cover story on her.

Bertie:
Your comment on how skin shade/color affects the classification and promotion of a record was reminds me of a discussion I had with Grammy-winning songwriter Teddy Vann (for Luther Vandross’ “Power of Love”) in my web-documentary. Click on my name if you want to take a look at it.

Posted 27 Jun 2006 at 11:38 pm ¶
gatamala wrote:

excellent points merq & bertie

Posted 28 Jun 2006 at 7:57 am ¶
Staci wrote:

Okay.

I guess struck a nerve. My issue with Carey, who is an amazing singer, is that she plays both sides. Most of the childhood difficulties she has experienced happened while her family was living in primarily white suburbs. Yet when she expresses negative feelings about people in her childhood, she specifically calls out her black grandmother(who took care of her when she was little), or other black people who said she wasn’t black.

Posted 28 Jun 2006 at 10:29 am ¶
Merq wrote:

Staci:
wha??

Actually, she credits said black grandmother with her spirituality and intro to gospel music. most of her childhood horror stories do, in fact, focus on white classmates and neighbors who harrassed her and her family.

shit, i’m done. you won’t turn me into a mariah mouthpiece.

Posted 28 Jun 2006 at 10:41 am ¶
bertie wrote:

lol Merq–yeah Mariah needs you on the PR payroll. Thanks for the link, I’ll definetly check that out. I didn’t realize there was so much resistence to “Black Mariah.” That’s crazy that Essence would get complaints about her being on the cover. Maybe the MMW folks could do a segment on racial marketing in the music biz–since music influences so much in our culture it would be an interesting topic to explore.

Posted 28 Jun 2006 at 11:31 am ¶
Marsha wrote:

Bertie- ditto. That would be a good topic. It seems in the early days of MTV, they marketed the nonthreatening black musician (Lionel Richie, Whitney, M.J., Tina Turner, Billy Ocean, etc). Rap was relegated to one of their speciality shows (”Yo! MTV Raps”) until it became apparent that white suburban boys were buying rap records. (The Beastie Boys “Elvisizing” rap probably had a hand in making white boys more interested in rap.) Then, all of a sudden, rap music is on heavy rotation on MTV.

The “black pass” would be another interesting topic to discuss on “Addicted to Race” too.

Posted 28 Jun 2006 at 1:03 pm ¶
site admin wrote:

Thanks for all the suggestions for future topics, folks! I’m writing them down… –CVK

Posted 28 Jun 2006 at 1:17 pm ¶
Nick wrote:

you know i have to say that what Berhard said on the view about everything was very, very stupid. I mean she was on national television and saying stuf that were highly critical and in true essence mean. She was just stupid with what she had said and I think the network should have just cut her off, but I guess like usual they’re only concerns was “BIG RATINGS”.

On the fact of Mariah’s blackness or whiteness, personally I don’t care either way since Mariah is an amazing artist. she has a talent that I don’t hear on many people and thing it unfair she is constantly criticized by comidians, magazines and whatever for an aspect of herself that she has already discussed and put to rest. I mean shouldn’t we in the end only care for her talent and not her biological history since her talent is what got her famous. I mean it doesn’t bother or affect me in anyway if shes perceived as white, black or both, since her talent is what initially drew me to her. This question of race in our world is always taken to far and whether or not Mariah is whatever she is should not be a main focus since it is a non-factor when it comes down to her music and talent. Mariah is talented and her for me is one of my favorite singers and is a beautiful and talented human being.

Posted 29 Jun 2006 at 1:14 am ¶
Nick wrote:

Well, I’m not here to defend myself if that comment refers to me, but unlike Sandra Bernhard I’m not racist and for me race is not something that doesn’t affect my judgment on someone and their talents. So before you judge me, read what I wrote, because I didn’t say aything wrong about any of you, Mariah or anybody so please.

Posted 29 Jun 2006 at 10:32 am ¶
site admin wrote:

Nick, that wasn’t a comment directed at you, that was a trackback from a different post about John Mayer. –CVK

Posted 29 Jun 2006 at 10:49 am ¶
bertie wrote:

Yeah the black pass would be an excellent topic–given the recent entries on John Mayer and Michael Rapport. I want to know what are the requirments to get one (does one have to release a “soulful” album or be able to dance like MJ, maybe its just by dating a black person, maybe its being seen in the company of two or more black folks at the same time, or maybe its by perfecting a “blaccent,” or at least being well versed in phrases like “oohhh no you/she/he diin’t?” or “talk to the hand.”)

Posted 29 Jun 2006 at 12:46 pm ¶
Anonymous wrote:

I think that this post is a bit disingenuous.

There needs to be a distinction made between mixed-race people who don’t feel the need to “choose” and the reality that this country has a long history of rewarding assimilation. This goes beyond actual miscenegated people, to white ethnicities. This country dangles all the rewards of ‘whiteness’ in front of folks and many a group has taken advantage.

That statement is meant very objectively. It’s not intended as a judgement. But rather, it’s meant to remind people that there are benefits to being white or being considered less “non-white”. And while one doesn’t always consciously take advantage of said benefits, pretending as if they aren’t there, or that some do take advantage, or that this is “the American way” is really to be complicit with the system.

Mariah Carey doesn’t really pimp her blackness, not really. But she does pimp very complex ideas about light skinned black women. As such, this is a gender-shaded race argument. The tragic mulatto is a trope that few folks know about. In a nation where women like Halle, Alicia and Beyonce are the only black women to grace our nation’s most mainstream “beauty magazines”, we need to understand and admit that a diversity of black female beauty is still not widely celebrated. That is not to chastize Halle, Alicia and Beyonce for being light skinned or for gracing those covers, but it is about holding the larger population accountable for what they consume.

The hyper-sexual image of women like Beyonce and Mariah in today’s pop realm is not all that different from images of biracial women throughout the nation’s history.

My point is that I think you are somewhat unfair to the sociologist who makes a legitimate point about the ability to pass in this country for white or for white privilege. Acknowledging the ability of folks to pass is not the same as castigating them for doing it. And that’s important to relaty to your readers.

Posted 30 Jun 2006 at 3:00 pm ¶
Tyler wrote:

I’m sorry that last post is me…

I think that this post is a bit disingenuous.

There needs to be a distinction made between mixed-race people who don’t feel the need to “choose” and the reality that this country has a long history of rewarding assimilation. This goes beyond actual miscenegated people, to white ethnicities. This country dangles all the rewards of ‘whiteness’ in front of folks and many a group has taken advantage.

That statement is meant very objectively. It’s not intended as a judgement. But rather, it’s meant to remind people that there are benefits to being white or being considered less “non-white”. And while one doesn’t always consciously take advantage of said benefits, pretending as if they aren’t there, or that some do take advantage, or that this is “the American way” is really to be complicit with the system.

Mariah Carey doesn’t really pimp her blackness, not really. But she does pimp very complex ideas about light skinned black women. As such, this is a gender-shaded race argument. The tragic mulatto is a trope that few folks know about. In a nation where women like Halle, Alicia and Beyonce are the only black women to grace our nation’s most mainstream “beauty magazines”, we need to understand and admit that a diversity of black female beauty is still not widely celebrated. That is not to chastize Halle, Alicia and Beyonce for being light skinned or for gracing those covers, but it is about holding the larger population accountable for what they consume.

The hyper-sexual image of women like Beyonce and Mariah in today’s pop realm is not all that different from images of biracial women throughout the nation’s history.

My point is that I think you are somewhat unfair to the sociologist who makes a legitimate point about the ability to pass in this country for white or for white privilege. Acknowledging the ability of folks to pass is not the same as castigating them for doing it. And that’s important to relay to your readers.

Posted 30 Jun 2006 at 3:01 pm ¶
dcmc wrote:

Carmen & Jane plz do this topic on ur next podcast! If only u guys can interview mariah herself!haha, or just mixed ppl with similar experenices!

I am so fed up with posters like Staci who does not know a thing about Mariah and had totally inaccurate sources trashing her “mixedness” at any given chance!

Alicia & Halle made it very clear in interviews that they chose to identify as black early on, whichi is fine. And Mariah also had stated that she identifies as a mixed-race human beings, which apparently offended some ppl in that they think every mixed person has to “choose a side”. I am saying my point yet once again that Mariah is always subjected to this kind of crticism only becuz of her skin color. If Alicia or Halle act or dress a certain way they would be praised either for their “downess” or “intelligent black woman representing”. But for Mariah, she is never black enough or white enough for some. And you wonder why she’s written those “sappy” lyrcis about being mixed?

Posted 02 Jul 2006 at 11:20 pm ¶
dcmc wrote:

I am sooo sorry Jen!!!

Posted 02 Jul 2006 at 11:23 pm ¶
Staci wrote:

Guess what? Everyone is right. That is what make Mariah Carey a confusing and controversial figure. I have read several interviews(Essence, Elle, Movieline, and America) with Carey and my view of her is based on what her statements were there. If she said something different on Oprah, my apologies. I stand by everything else I said, though. Her common refrain is “poor me”, despite success at an early age, mass crossover appeal, and an apparently dealyed adolescence. I didn’t realize she was a sacred cow. It is just an opinion, no more no less.

Posted 05 Jul 2006 at 10:01 am ¶
mtevc wrote:

okay, not to get into this argument…i am not quite sure why everyone gets so bent out of shape on mariah, and is all in love with halle and alicia keyes…on a totally superficial level, mariah’s last cd was fun…nuff said…in all of her interviews about her life, she was totally honest that growing up was difficult…sheesh, think about where her sister is now…i am going to say something so politically incorrect now…if the essence readers were beefing, it’s because of how mariah looks…her looks are more, shall we say, ambigious, than say halle or alicia??? i have heard the most atrocious things from black women about light skinned black women and biracial women, and there is much of that still around today…whatever the motivation or the reasons for it (and there are many), it is there…still, the industry does like it when artists are lighter or more ambigious…and the perfect example is when they take someone and try to make them appear lighter in print or on video…take beyonce for example…i don’t even know if this is worth saying, but she is so blasted with light and makeup, that it’s interesting to note that she is many (and i mean many) shades darker than she appears in print and on camera…i wouldn’t even group her with the others, if this is an issue of acceptance of “light” skinned or biracial women…beyonce makes sure she is “down” at every moment…i could beat her with a stick for that stupid song “soldier” that she did with destiny’s child…that song singlehandedly brought down the IQ’s and the self esteem of every black woman across the country…moral of that song: get a street thug to take care of you girls

Posted 07 Jul 2006 at 3:27 pm ¶
its a JOKE wrote:

guys, you need to relax, Sandra Bernhard is NOT a racist, nor were her comments meant to be taken seriously. It was a lighthearted routine she did 8 years ago, and if you listen to the routine, its funny. Sandra cuts up everything and everyone… she also said on The View that Laura Bush was “obviously heavily medicated”. She’s not coming from a racist place at all. I’m biracial and a huge fan of both Sandra Bernhard AND Mariah Carey.
Her use of the word “niggerish” is SHOCKING, yes, but it is NOT MEANT TO BE SERIOUS. She’s a comedian, and i see tons of other comedians (like Dave Chappelle) using “the N word” in their performances. She used it intentionally to be shocking, and not to be racist. She uses the race card the same way she insiuates (IN HER COMEDY ROUTINE) that Mariah used “race” to leap from bubblegum pop princess to a more legitimate Diva, post Tommy Mottola. Its meant to be funny. Please… lighten up!

Posted 09 Jul 2006 at 4:42 pm ¶
Catherine wrote:

why does it even matter what her skin colour is????? when i look around for new music. i don’t go around thinking , ok, today i’m gonna look in the white category or black category etc etc… i look for the type of music: pop; r & b; jazz; rock…. if Mariah Carey wants to use biracialness to her advantages, it is her business. it is not against the law.

Posted 22 Jul 2006 at 10:30 pm ¶
Wayman wrote:

Sandra Bernhard disgusts me. She’s an ugly, dated comedian who has nothing else better to do than talk about a routine she did eight years ago! Get a life, you hag! Also, Mariah has been very open about her Black heritage and her problems as a mixed girl. Just as ignorant people like Sandra giving her flack about her identity.

Posted 26 Jul 2006 at 11:28 am ¶