Billy Dee Williams says actors should be able to do blackface

Billy Dee Williams believes actors should be able to perform in blackface.

In a new episode of Bill Maher’s ‘Club Random’ podcastthe “Star Wars” actor recalled seeing Laurence Olivier in 1965’s “Othello,” in which Olivier donned blackface to portray the title role.

“When he did ‘Othello,’ I just burst out laughing,” Williams said of Olivier. “He stuck his ass out and walked his ass around, you know, because black people are supposed to have big asses.”

“I thought it was hysterical. I loved it,” Williams added. “I like that kind of thing.”

Maher commented that “they would never let you do that today,” to which Williams replied, “Why?”

“Black face?” Maher asked in surprise.

“Why not? You have to do that,” Williams said. “If you’re an actor, you have to do everything you want to do.”

Maher then pointed out that Williams, 87, “actually lived in a period where you couldn’t play the roles you should have played.”

“The point is you don’t go through life feeling like, ‘I’m a victim,’” Williams explained. “I refuse to go through life saying to the world, ‘I’m pissed.’ I’m not going to be angry 24 hours a day.”

Earlier in the conversation, Williams said, “If I want to be creative, let me be creative as an individualist. I don’t want to do anything based on this whole idea you’re a black person, you’re a white person and things of that nature. I am an artist. I am a creative entity in this life.”

Williams is promoting his memoir ‘What Have We Here? Portraits of a Life,” which follows his childhood growing up in Harlem and his career on Broadway and Hollywood. The actor is known for his role as Lando Calrissian in the “Star Wars” universe, as well as the films “Brian’s Song” (1971), “Lady Sings the Blues” (1972) and “Mahogany” (1975).

Watch the full conversation between Williams and Maher on “Club Random” below: