Billy Dee Williams On Actors Wearing Blackface: “If You’re An Actor, You Should Do Anything You Want To Do”

Billy Dee Williams is defending actors who want to wear blackface in their performances.

The Star Wars actor appeared on Bill Maher’s podcast and recalled Lauren Olivier’s performance in 1965’s Othellowhere the actor wore blackface.

“When he did ‘Othello,’ I fell out laughing,” Williams said of Olivier on the Club Random podcast. “He stuck his ass out and walked around with his ass, you know, because Black people are supposed to have big asses.”

He continued, “I thought it was hysterical. I loved it. I love that kind of stuff.”

Maher mentioned that actors could not wear Blackface today, to which Williams said, “Why not? You should do it. If you’re an actor, you should do anything you want to do.”

The podcast’s host noted that Williams “lived in a period where you couldn’t play the parts you should’ve played.”

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

Williams famously portrayed the role of Landon Calrissian in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back in 1980. The actor reprised his role in 1983’s Return of the Jedi and again in 2019’s Rise of Skywalker.

In an interview with The Guardian earlier this year, Williams said he didn’t “think in terms of Black” about the characters he portrays in media.

“I never think of myself in terms of the only Black character. Everybody else might think of it that way. In my reasoning in my own head, I’m just a character,” he said. “A character has certain qualities that make a character a winning character in a movie or a character that is not able to translate very well. I’ve been able to translate very well across the board.”

Watch Williams’ full interview in the video below.