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TheCab ads remind me of a Blackface routine

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  • TheCab ads remind me of a Blackface routine

    I am transgender and wonder if any other transgender people find TheCab's Frank Delima ads offensive?

    To me they remind me of a Blackface routine. Something that was done in the past but in today's world is way past being even remotely acceptable.

    I doubt if all non-transgender people would get what I'm saying... Lighten-up! It's all in fun after all!

    To that I would say if it's ok for the masses to mock a minority then would you be ok with ads that laughed at people in wheelchairs, people with mental problems or how about laughing at vets with lost limbs? What a riot.

    The basis of Frank Delima's ads is that when you see a man in female attire, it's funny. I'm a male and I wear skirts every day. To me the ads tell kids that's funny. It might have been ok in Shakespeare's day and yes 35 years ago I laughed at Monty Python but it's 2016 and, like with Blackface routines, sometimes things that were tolerated in the past need to be reevaluated.

    BTW I do like Frank, he's a great guy and I'm sure he just isn't aware that there are people like me that don't enjoy being laughed at simply because of the way we are.

    I've been wearing skirts out-and-about for about 3 years now and have got very little flack from anybody. But guess how many other people I've seen like me? Answer: zero. Maybe I'm the only transgender here. No the answer is that it's because I'm older, retired and not worried about losing my job. It's stuff like TheCab drag queen "comedy" that stop pretty much 100% of trangenders from living how they would like to. That's why it's, so far, almost entirely people my age or older (Bruce Jenner) that feel ok not living in a phony way.

    All the kids who should feel ok won't as long as society thinks that we are a joke. I feel sorry for the kids and wish I could have been encouraged to live as an "in-betweener" 50 years ago.

    Things like TheCab ad send kids the massage: hide or people will laugh at you.
    Last edited by Golfsnorkel; March 15, 2016, 09:51 AM.

  • #2
    Re: TheCab ads remind me of a Blackface routine

    It's definitely something TheCab and Frank DeLima should consider, but the humor in the ads doesn't necessarily come from the fact that it's a man dressed as a woman, and DeLima's portrayals don't seem mocking or exaggerated to me. The humor comes from how spot-on his portrayals are. When you see these three women as portrayed by Frank, don't you laugh because each of them reminds you of the aunties at the mall or the swap meet? That's why I laugh. Yes, it's exaggerated, but I think it's exaggerated in a sweet, affectionate way.

    Now, I'm not a member of your group, admittedly, so I don't know what it's like to sit where you sit when you see these commercials, and I wouldn't begin to try to tell you what you should think or feel. I do know that DeLima's humor takes similar aim at lots of local groups, and they tend to be funny because, while exaggerations, they're pretty accurate.

    I think you should communicate with DeLima's people and see what they have to say.
    But I'm disturbed! I'm depressed! I'm inadequate! I GOT IT ALL! (George Costanza)
    GrouchyTeacher.com

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    • #3
      Re: TheCab ads remind me of a Blackface routine

      Thanks for your kind reply.

      There are probably lots of white folks today who would still laugh at a Blackface performer and not be offended in the least. I'm not saying that they are evil people because of that, it's just that because of their limited life experience they don't see in it what a black person might. The same with the Frank Delima drag queen act.

      I guarantee you if you took a room full of transgender people and played TheCab ads for them that many would find it offensive. Some probably wouldn't too. It's because of their varied life experiences.

      In a way there's a setup, if you don't find it funny then you have no sense of humor.

      Go to Longs. See any transgender people? Nope, they're hiding. It's ok to be gay in 2016. It's ok to be a "passable" trangender who's spent a few million on boob jobs, facial surgery and wigs like Bruce Jenner. But be what the Navajo's had, a guy who didn't look like a girl but wore women's clothes and was valued and respected in their society? I don't see any of those people even though they make up probably 3% (that's just my guess) of the people here. That type should be the norm because that's what nature makes. The only transgender men celebrated in this society are the ones that win beauty contests that you can't imagine were born men. But those types, to be that type, is not going to happen, nor should it, for 99.9999999999% of transgender men.

      The only time you see that type (non-passable) of transgender man in this society is when it's a joke. That's what I see when I see Frank with his 5 o'clock shadow and lipstick, a different version of a Blackface routine.

      I remember hearing Jay Leno saying once that he stayed away from doing any ethnic humor because he always felt like comedians who did ethic humor meant it a little bit.

      For me I'm not trying to "pass" for a female. I don't really like the term "transgender" because I'm not going anywhere. I just use that term because most people don't know what a "two spirit" person is. But there are thousands of us here and I don't see any anywhere, and I think it's because they don't want to be laughed at. Understanding that is key to why I find those tv ads out of step with 2016. If the only time you see a "non-passable" guy it's in a joke, well, you have the way things are today. A complete 100% lack of respected two-spirit men role models. That's horrible!

      Kids need to know that it's normal to be like me. Nothing's broken, nothing needs to be fixed, it's the way nature has always worked.
      Last edited by Golfsnorkel; March 15, 2016, 09:45 PM.

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      • #4
        Re: TheCab ads remind me of a Blackface routine

        I don't feel that a man dressing up as a woman by itself is funny. I think the only time I laughed is when Chris Farley did an impression of a member of Wilson Phillips. And it was only because of the physical resemblance.

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        • #5
          Re: TheCab ads remind me of a Blackface routine

          Chris Farley was an extremely funny guy. But I kind of (not to be Mr. No Fun) think that that act was another Blackface type of act. Getting a laugh by getting a huge group of people to laugh at a single person is a real cheap shot. When he was doing that, Carnie Wilson was just about dying because of her weight. I don't think, if you talked to her, that it's possible she wasn't hurt by Howard Stern and the others who mocked her appearance.

          There's an old saying - "it's not funny unless everyone laughs". I'm not sure I totally go for that because not too many people got Andy Kaufman's female wrestling routine and I thought it was funny. But what that saying is about is what I was saying about comedy based on getting a group to laugh at an individual. I make an exception for Hitler, he's fair game.

          The higher road, to me is the comedy of George Carlin. His comedy was enlightening, he found absurdity in everyday things we all do. I never heard him mocking someone's health problems. George's comedy was really creative. Chris Farley was real talented too, but real insecure and real messed up. I think he was doing the Carnie act because he was so uncomfortable in his own skin and that was his way of dealing with it, by making it a joke. But in the end it killed him so we didn't get to see what he could have been. He was a sort of "sad clown" like John Belushi.

          Lots of comedians (Robin Williams comes to mind) have done drag queen acts. Lots of people did Blackface acts too, and there used to be Marlboro ads on tv so as society changes so does what's acceptable.
          Last edited by Golfsnorkel; March 16, 2016, 08:31 AM.

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          • #6
            Re: TheCab ads remind me of a Blackface routine

            http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/0...n_7534978.html

            Comedy is not pretty. Even safe comics such as Jerry Seinfeld don't want to perform standup at a liberal college campus.

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