f8bengal wrote:
Amos 'n Andy, like "minstrel" shows of the past, were played by white actors. And yes, they were funny at the time, but at the expense of those being laughed at, not laughed with. Let's laugh with each other, sometimes at ourselves, but not at another for his failings. We all have plenty of failings to go around.
In the '50's the family and I, along with millions of others, watched Amos 'n Andy (TV shows) as long as CBS left it on the air. The show was almost entirely cast with black performers.
We laughed at the shows and their content because the actors and actresses did such a good job of what they were paid to do...make people laugh. We had no thoughts about the show's stereotyping a particular race as being as dumb as some of the scenes on the show. If that were true then fast forward to some of the more recent race oriented comedies that takes comedy to a much lower level than A&A.
CBS stopped airing it in 1966 because the NAACP decided it misrepresented black society and pressured for its removal.
Was A&A racist? I think not. It was just funny.