Okay because you seem willing to learn, I want also elaborate on the questions you're asking. I especially want to elaborate on why the blackface incident specifically is a LOT worse than your typical "edgy" humor, especially because you mentioned not living in the U.S.
First I want to address the point you made here:
However, you do not hold authority over how anyone else feels about it. I have seen people get pretty harassed for forgiving him too. And that isn't okay either.
I agree with this in essence, but I want to point out that this is not something for anyone who isn't black to "forgive." Just because I don't hold this video as an indictment of his whole character doesn't mean I have a place to "forgive" him for this because I'm not black.
And just like people don't have a right to tell us to condemn him for this, it's also not my place to demand black fans overlook this because no matter how long ago it was, the video was still racist and wrong and at 19, he was still old enough to know better.
If a black fan doesn't want to watch Helluva Boss or watch any more of his content because he did blackface, they're well within their right to do so. It's not up to anyone who isn't black to "forgive" him because we weren't the offended party.
I am, however, questioning the motives of bringing it up and reopening a wound that hasn't been relevant in some time. And It's being spread among people without seeing the video too.
This, I actually do agree with. I don't trust the motives of the person who chose to dig through his history specifically to blast him for this. Because there are many people who didn't know he did blackface, which tells me that people either dug through his history to find something to cancel him over, or that they did know he did this, but sat on the information until it was opportune to reopen controversy in the fanbase.
But regardless of whether the person who brought it up had good intentions or not, it's still a gross thing that Brandon did no matter how long ago it was.
They grabbed onto the blackface part of it and ran with that without the context. And understand me correctly here, I just didn't understand why doing blackface was worse than all the other stereotypes and offensive humour he's done.
He's known for this kind of humour. You're absolutely allowed to be offended by it and hate him for it.. but this thing became so big despite the fact that he has similar stuff still up that didn't give this big of a reaction. I'm not saying people can't be upset about it, I'm just confused why the outrage came from this specific thing when this is what he's known for? It felt like a hate campaign specifically for him with information that shouldn't really be surprising considering who it's about.
So here's the thing about blackface, it has a long history of extreme racism in the United States. It was often used to paint caricatured images of black people with not only the expressed purpose to mock them, but also to make white people feel better about the oppression they were subjected to in the United States.
Its expressed purpose was degradation and dehumanization of black people to let people feel justified in their oppression of them. Considering the fact antiblack racism is STILL quite terrible in the United States, and that antiblack racism is still NOT taken seriously, the revelation that Brandon Rogers participated in this very thing broke the hearts of a LOT of people.
Yes, Brandon Rogers is known for his edgy humor, but there is a line between edgy humor and punchdown humor and his Blackface skit was a LOT of punchdown humor that justifiably rubbed people the wrong way. Not only because of its racist history, but also the fact that its expressed purpose, dehumanization and degradation of black people, is something that is still happening in the United States.
Dark humour is a fine line to walk. Brandon has been doing a lot of offensive shit because that's what he's about. He's also mostly been an equal opportunity for all - kind of dark comedian. He'd make fun of anyone and everyone. That's what he's known for. And it is for a specific kind of audience. Even for those who he makes fun of.
Not everyone who's targeted takes offense to it because we know that isn't the point. He's not telling us what he feels about the people he makes fun of with his humour, like I said dark humour is usually about making fun of the stereotypes or perpetrators in themselves. Which is why he can get so many people to agree to make fun of themselves, most likely.
To address this point, like I said, there is a fine line between dark and edgy humor and punchdown humor. And his blackface skit had a LOT of punchdown humor. Even amongst people who like dark humor, dark jokes targeting black people can be a VERY easy ticket into being straight up racist because of how prevalent antiblack racism and hate crimes still are here.
Here's the thing about you knowing that he's not telling us how he feels about people. Regardless of how he actually feels about these people, the fact still remains that his blackface video WAS making fun of black people themselves.
"He's not telling us what he feels about the people he makes fun of with his humor, like I said dark humor is usually about making fun of the stereotypes or perpetrators in themselves." Not everyone knows that about him and regardless of whether or not you do, people are still allowed to take offense to the video because the video was gross. Second of all, if he was attempting to mock the stereotypes of black people, he did a VERY bad job of that the video ended up just being incredibly racist against black people.
I know you're not trying to come across as dismissive, but I really want you to understand why people were more pissed off about his blackface video and that blackface carries a LOT more sensitive history in the United States.
Just like people don't have a right to tell us to hate Brandon for this video, it is not up to us to tell other people, especially black fans, to get over it.
And saying that this is "just his brand" is not going to cut it. There is a line and he crossed it, and while I also don't trust the intentions of the person who chose to resurface the video, to reiterate my main point with this:
Antiblack racism is not something that is up to any who isn't black to "forgive."
That is up to the black fans themselves and all we can do is support them, whether they choose to forgive him or not.
