History Main / SomeOfMyBestFriendsAreX

Note though that this trope depends on its use as a ''defense'' against an accusation. If Bob simply says "I have many friends who are X", but is not using it as a defense, then it may not be this trope. It may just be that he's saying so because another person says they've never seen many people of that group, so Bob saying that he has friends in that group is just meant to point out he knows some. The use of this phrase as a defense against bigotry has been lampooned so many times that un-ironically using it in RealLife is usually construed as ''ipso facto'' evidence of racism.

Often a response to MistakenForRacist. Related to YouAreACreditToYourRace and BigotryException, and often accompanied by NotThatTheresAnythingWrongWithThat. It may also be used to (dubiously) claim NWordPrivileges for using a slur that's considered derogatory when it comes from outsiders.

Can also involve {{Boomerang Bigot}}s--(e.g. "Some of my best friends are white!" - Self-Hating White Guy) or bizarre character circumstances (e.g. "Some of my best friends are werewolves!" - Werewolf-Hating Vampire). See also HaveYouTriedNotBeingAMonster, FantasticRacism and FantasticAesop. Supertrope to TokenBlackFriend. Occasionally overlaps with EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas when a misogynist cites his love for his mother to deny his sexism.

Can also involve {{Boomerang Bigot}}s--(e.g. "Some of my best friends are white!" - Self-Hating White Guy) or bizarre character circumstances (e.g. "Some of my best friends are werewolves!" - Werewolf-Hating Vampire). See also HaveYouTriedNotBeingAMonster, FantasticRacism and FantasticAesop. Supertrope to TokenBlackFriend.

* Alluded to in ''Literaure/LizardMusic''; Victor mentions that kids at his school tend to crowd around the few black students in an effort to prove they aren't prejudiced, ironically making it impossible to actually talk to and get to know them.

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* At least two examples, [[https://youtu.be/I6PPk2NOQXs?t=78 this notoriously homophobic ad]].
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* In the ''Literature/{{Riverworld}}'' novel ''To Your Scattered Bodies Go'', Richard Burton defends himself against accusations of anti-Semitism by citing his many Jewish friends. Later in the story, so does Hermann Göring.

* Literature/{{Friday}} says this when Georges Perreault mentions that he's a genetic engineer, involved in the creation of {{Artificial Person}}s. Georges politely disagrees; while ''he'' can honestly say this, as his job involves working with such people, it's extremely unlikely that Friday would have any friends who'd even admit they were AP's, due to FantasticRacism. The irony is that (unknown to Georges at the time) Friday is an AP herself, posing as a normal human.
* In the non-fiction ''Spitfire Girl'' by Jackie Moggridge, she tries to make awkward conversation with a Jewish refugee whose parents have been thrown into a Nazi concentration camp. When Jackie says that she likes the Jews, the girl snaps back "That's the same as not liking them." After the war Jackie is ferrying Spitfires to Israel and makes a Jewish joke, only to belatedly realize that her fellow pilot is Israeli. When she apologies, the Israeli pilot ironically gives the trope line.
* Happens literally in ''The Emperor's Coloured Coat'' by John Biggins. Otto Prohaska is dating a Polish countess who is virulently anti-Semitic, so he's surprised when she greets a Hassidic family in a friendly and familiar manner. When Otto calls her out on this she's outraged; she grew up with them in the same village and they are as Polish as she is, [[InsaneTrollLogic how dare he call them Jews!]]

-->'''Peanut''': "No, my... mother is Mexican. Well, she's ''New'' Mexican. She's like José, only... fresher."

* In the ''ComicBook/YoungAvengers'' miniseries during ''ComicBook/DarkReign'', blatant racist Big Zero tells her counterpart in the actual Young Avengers, Stature, that "some of my best friends are Jews". Neither Stature nor any of the other Young Avengers was convinced in the slightest, and she was immediately refused membership.
* In ''ComicBook/IronMan'' (Vol. 5) #9, ComicBook/DeathsHead questions Iron Man if he's a "krypto-fascist."

* From ''Comicbook/XFactor'' (Vol. 1) #92, when they'd just learned that their government liaison, Valerie Cooper, was part of the Sentinel program, and she protests that she was JustFollowingOrders and considers the team to be her friends.
-->'''Comicbook/{{Quicksilver}}''': Some of my best friends are mutants? Oh, Val, how very typical of a [[FantasticSlurs flatscan]].

* Subverted in ''ComicBook/{{Grandville}} Noel'': when a human rights activist accuses Cherie Rocher of being a [[FantasticRacism speciesist]], the raccoon [[NotHelpingYourCase doesn't help her case]] by indignantly responding "Our butler is a [[FantasticSlur doughface]]!"

* Creator/DaneCook lampshades the trope by pointing out that some people deny accusations of being racist by saying "I have a black friend." Dane says that now UsefulNotes/BarackObama is the president he will say "I'm not racist, I have a black president."

--->'''Doyle:''' I've got some good Greek friends.
--->'''Bodie:''' Me too. Funny thing is though, [[GorgeousGreek they're all girls]].

* ''The Critical Drinker'' often brings up Ripley from the ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'' franchise, Sarah Connor from the ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'' franchise, and Disney's original ''WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}}'' as a rebuttal to people calling him sexist and misogynistic, the point being that he believes he cannot be sexist if he likes "well-written" female characters.
** In a variant that overlaps with DearNegativeReader, he also tells off people that have accused him of sexism, misogyny, and hating non-white casting and non-straight representation (primarily because of his dislike towards progressive messages in films he believes to be pandering) in his review of ''WesternAnimation/{{Arcane}}'', pointing out that he likes the series despite it having everything he supposedly hates:
-->"Oh, and as a little side-quote for all those fucking brainlets out there who like to chime in with insightful commentary like 'The Drinker is just a hateful, toxic misogynist who can't stand anything with strong female characters, diverse casting or non-heterosexual representation,' well, you can go ahead and suck my big, hairy Scottish balls, because first up, you're clearly missing the entire point of my channel, which is hardly surprising, considering most of you have an IQ roughly equivalent to a soft-boiled egg. And secondly, according to whatever ridiculous mental gymnastics passes for logic in your case, ''Arcane'' should be the very epitome of everything I hate most in life, and yet here I am, fucking loving it.

Note though that this trope depends on its use as a ''defense'' against an accusation. If Bob simply says 'I have many friends who are X', but is not using it as a defense, then it may not be this trope. It may just be that he's saying so because another person says they've never seen many people of that group, so Bob saying that he has friends in that group is just meant to point out he knows some. The use of this phrase as a defense against bigotry has been lampooned so many times that un-ironically using it in RealLife is usually construed as ''ipso facto'' evidence of racism.

* WebVideo/TheCriticalDrinker often brings up Ripley from the ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'' franchise, Sarah Connor from the ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'' franchise, and Disney's original ''WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}}'' as a rebuttal to people calling him sexist and misogynistic, the point being that he believes he cannot be sexist if he likes well-written female characters.

-->"Oh, and as a little side-quote for all those fucking brainlets out there who like to chime in with insightful commentary like 'The Drinker is just a hateful, toxic misogynist who can't stand anything with strong female characters, diverse casting or non-heterosexual representation,' well, you can go ahead and suck my big, hairy Scottish balls, because first up, you're clearly missing the entire point of my channel, which is hardly surprising, considering most of you have an IQ roughly equivalent to a soft-boiled egg. And secondly, according to whatever ridiculous mental gymnastics passes for logic in your case, ''Arcane'' should be the very epitome of everything I hate most in life, and yet here I am, fucking loving it."WebVideo/TheCriticalDrinker

* In the ''Series/{{Ziwe}}'' sketch "Black Friends", a white "[[WantsAPrizeForBasicDecency ally]]" tries to prove she's not racist by listing all of her supposed black friends, eventually including random celebrities, [[Film/BlackPanther Black Panther]] characters, and a gospel choir she paid to be there.

** An episode has [[HasTwoMommies Lily]] believe she is gay, operating under the same logic that the child of Italian parents is Italian. Mitchell told her she isn't, right as a lesbian couple walks by.

* WebVideo/TheCriticalDrinker often brings up Ripley from the ''Francise/{{Alien}}'' franchise, Sarah Connor from the ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'' franchise, and Disney's original ''WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}}'' as a rebuttal to people calling him sexist and misogynistic, the point being that he believes he cannot be sexist if he likes well-written female characters.

* In a variant that overlaps with DearNegativeReader, WebVideo/TheCriticalDrinker tells off people that have accused him of sexism, misogyny, and hating non-white casting and non-straight representation (primarily because of his dislike towards progressive messages in films he believes to be pandering) in his review of ''WesternAnimation/{{Arcane}}'', pointing out that he likes the series despite it having everything he supposedly hates:

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'' gives us [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-1171 SCP-1171]], an extra-dimensional {{Starfish Alien|s}} who asserts that [[FantasticRacism he's not racist since some of his best friends are human.]]

-->-- '''[[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-1171 SCP-1171-1]]''', ''Wiki/SCPFoundation''

* In a ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' sketch parodying [[OccidentalOtaku white anime/J-Pop fans]] who are unaware of the potnetial issues of imitating Japanese accents and mannerisms and singing in fake Japanese, one character states, "I am not a racist! My girlfriend is Japanese!"

* Subverted in ''ComicBook/{{Grandville}} Noel'': when a human rights activist accuses Cherie Rocher of being a [[FantasticRacism speciesist]], the badger [[NotHelpingYourCase doesn't help her case]] by indignantly responding "Our butler is a [[FantasticSlur doughface]]!"

* Parodied in a ''ComicBook/SheHulk'' story involving ComicBook/SpiderMan and Jonah Jameson in court. A lawyer asks Spidey why he thinks Jameson has spent so many years attacking him in the Bugle. To mess with Jonah, Spidey jokingly replies that it's because he's black. The flustered JJJ gives the stock response. (Though in this case, Jonah's actually speaking the literal truth. One of his best friends is Robbie Robertson.)

* ''Series/TheWire'': When Baltimore detective [=McNulty=] needs to ask a rural cop for a favor, he assumes that the cop is a CorruptHick and makes racist comments to ingratiate himself. It turns out that the cop is married to a black police officer, so [=McNulty=] quickly backpedals by offering to introduce his black partner, Kima.