Remember the 1986 film, Soul Man? For those who aren’t familiar with it and it’s controversy, it was a film about a White dude who dressed in blackface, to pose as a Black student at Harvard University. The premise behind his Black ambitions was so he could earn a scholarship that was only intended for African Americans.
Though the film was somewhat of a small change success- produced for $4.5 million, but grossing $27 million at the box office- the controversy it sparked was intense. As y’all can imagine, many African Americans, organizations such as the NAACP, and director, Spike Lee, had much to say about the blackface, the cultural appropriation, racial insensitivity, etc…and understandably so.
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On the flip side, there were also many who enjoyed the film and the love story within it. That brings us to actress, Rae Dawn Chong, who played actor, C. Thomas Howell’s, ‘love interest’ in the movie. She apparently was pissed off with Spike Lee when he first spoke his mind about Soul Man decades ago, and 30 years later, during a 2016 interview with The Wrap, her anger was just as potent.
