Dan Aykroyd recently shared insights about his portrayal of an investment banker in the 1983 film Trading Places, where he starred alongside Eddie Murphy’s character, a cunning con artist. One of the scenes featured Aykroyd’s character Louis Winthorpe III wearing blackface makeup with dreadlocks while speaking in a Jamaican accent.
Although the movie was a commercial success, the actor revealed in a discussion with Daily Beast that if the film had been released four decades later, it would likely have resulted in a series of backlash and spurred controversy. “I was in Blackface in that film and I probably couldn’t get away with it now,” he told the news outlet. “I probably wouldn’t be allowed to do a Jamaican accent, white face, or Black.”
Dan Aykroyd says the Blackface scene would have been unacceptable today
During the interview, the 61-year-old revealed that the scene with the black make-up was created merely for fun. “Eddie and I were improvising there, Eddie is a Black man, and his entourage were all Black people, and I don’t think they batted an eye,” Aykroyd admitted. “There was no objection then; nobody said anything. It was just a good comic beat that was truthful to the story.”
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Despite the creative idea behind the scene, Aykyord maintained that he would have been denied the chance to play the character in present-day Hollywood. “In these days we’re living in, all that’s out the window,” he added. “I would be hard-pressed to do an English accent and get away with it. They’d say, ‘Oh, you’re not English, you can’t do it.’ ”
Dan Aykroyd previously says the comedy industry has changed over the years
During a 2021 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Aykroyd reflected on the evolution of comedy. The actor explained that there has been a shift over time, and comedians no longer need to resort to divisive elements to elicit laughter, as there is now a wide range of topics to create content on.
“There is so much in the world to comment on that is outside the realm of offensiveness. As a writer, you can go to other areas and have successful creative endeavors. Scatological humor is fun. It’s easy laughs. But there is more intelligent writing that can happen if you stay away from the offensive material that should be rightly canceled for its hurtfulness,” Aykroyd told The Hollywood Reporter. “Who can be the subject of an impression today? That’s an area of discussion. Can I do my James Brown imitation? He was one of my best friends. I do his voice pretty good. But maybe I shouldn’t anymore.”
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