History Main / TokenWhite

* Marnie from ''Anime/WhenMarnieWasThere'' is noted to be a "foreigner" and is one of the only white characters in the film. Everyone else is Japanese. [[spoiler:Anna herself is multiracial as Marnie is her grandmother]].

* {{Anime/Pokemon}}'s Tracey was designed to have an Anglo-Saxon look, making him the TokenWhite of the Orange Islands arc. Cilan was also the token white of the group for the Unova saga, with Ash being Asian and Iris being AmbiguouslyBrown.

* JimCarrey and Kelly Coffield were the token whites for ''InLivingColor''. Carrey at least earned an audition for being Damon Wayans' friend rather than simply the need for a white castmember.

* Creator/LilWayne's Young Money label features mostly black artists like Creator/{{Drake}} (who is actually half-white), Creator/NickiMinaj, and MackMaine but also has Creator/LimpBizkit and Creator/ParisHilton

* Squid from ''RocketPower''. The Rockets were half-Hawaiian and Twister was Latino.

* Music/LittleMix has Perrie Edwards as their sole obviously white member as Leigh-Anne Pinnock is black and both Jade Thirwall and Jesy Nelson are of AmbiguouslyBrown ancestries with have darker complexions when compared to Perrie.

* ''Series/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir'' did this occasionally with Will's goofy white classmates/friends, but even these eventually disappeared and were replaced with black BeavisAndButthead style sidekicks, only one of which had any staying power. For the first half or so of the series, there was also the hopelessly out-of-touch white teacher. Later, one of his aunts became involved with a white man... who eventually became so accepted by the family that he could make jokes about ''Carlton'' being white.

* [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] on ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'. While [[TwoferTokenMinority Stevie]] is the token black of the main kids, [[BumblingDad Hal]] winds up becoming the Token White of his friends, who are all black.

* In 2004, four Wrestling/RingOfHonor wrestlers went rogue and invaded IWA Puerto Rico. Mafia, Dan Maff, Homicide and BJ Whitmer. Whitmer was the only one who wasn't Puerto Rican and the only one 'white' by the standards of his era.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Webcomic]]

[[folder:Web comic]]
* This ''Webcomic/ScandinaviaAndTheWorld'' [[http://satwcomic.com/office-pet strip]] parodies a RealLife situation in China, where apparently you can ''rent'' white (or otherwise foreign) people in China to pretend to be a foreign employee of your company or an allied CEO. It's completely this trope that this practice exists; to prove that their companies are modern and global, Chinese businesses hire white people to be their token foreign dudes.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:AnimeAndManga]]

[[folder:ComicBooks]]

[[folder:LetsPlay]]

[[folder:LiveActionTV]]

[[folder:NewspaperComics]]
* A newspaper comic example is the character of Gunk from ''ComicStrip/{{Curtis}}''. Gunk is the only white member of the cast, period, and is the white equivalent of the "magical negro" character type, displaying utterly bizarre and nonsensical abilities due to being from the backwards Flyspeck Island. Gunk isn't just clueless and out-of-touch... he's the uber-ascendant {{Cloudcuckoolander}} given shape, voice, and wall-eyes.

[[folder:StandUpComedy]]
* One of Creator/DaveChappelle's jokes is that all groups of black friends should have at least one Token White in their group:
-->The one thing I'm seeing, you'll be walking down the street and you'll see a group of black dudes walking, not just any old black dudes, we're talking, you know, "thugs". There'd be some thugs, and in the group, they got one or two, sometimes as many as three white guys will be with them, did ya ever see that shit? Well, let me tell you something about those white guys. Those white guys are the most dangerous motherfuckers in them groups. (applause) Well, it's true, it's true, man. Ain't no tellin' what they've done to get them black dude's respect. But, them black dudes have seen them do some wild shit, I'll tell you that. I been trying to tell brothers that. Every group of brothers should have at least one white guy in it. I'm serious, for safety. 'Cause when the shit goes down, and shit WILL go down, somebody's gonna need to talk to the police. (laughter) That's when that white friend comes in handy. "Uh-oh, Ernie, wanna get this one?"

[[folder:VideoGames]]
* ''[[VideoGame/MenOfWar Men Of War: Vietnam]]'' have two [[UsefulNotes/RedsWithRockets Russian Spetsnaz]] advisors Fyodor Kazakov & Mikhail Morozov in the Vietcong campaign.

[[folder:WesternAnimation]]
* Zoey from ''WesternAnimation/TheProudFamily''.
* Richie from ''WesternAnimation/StaticShock'' was Virgil Hawkins's sidekick, and the only white member of the principal cast. Although he's still a minority, too: the character he was based off from the comic was gay, and DwayneMcDuffie had [[WordOfGay stated animated Richie was gay, too.]] They [[AnimationAgeGhetto couldn't actually show it on the show]], though.
** Hotstreak, one of Static's most prominent enemies, is pretty much the only other recurring white character.
* The Creator/PBSKids cartoon ''WesternAnimation/MayaAndMiguel'' is so intent on being diverse that their [[TwoferTokenMinority token white friend only has one arm.]] He was born that way, probably to keep cynical older viewers from wondering if he had to cut it off himself to be included in the group.
* Invoked an episode in ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill,'' where an all-Asian country club attempts to recruit Hank just to convince the PGA that they're not racist. Hank refuses to go along with it when he figures it out.
* Squid from ''RocketPower''. The Rockets were half-Hawaiian and Twister was Latino.
* In ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice,'' the [[RagtagBunchOfMisfits Runaways]] are a FiveTokenBand who only gain a white member, [[spoiler:Arsenal]], at the end of their second appearance. He's actually a TwoferTokenMinority since he's also [[spoiler:disabled. And Native American if we're going by comic canon]].
* Chuck, among the male leads,[[note]]If we exclude Julie and assume she's white[[/note]] in ''{{WesternAnimation/Motorcity}}''. Jacob would also count, but he's not as "on the field" as often as the rest. It's not as noticable, as some of the races are confirmed by WordOfGod (Mike is AmbiguouslyBrown with some MixedAncestry, Texas is Filipino, etc.).

[[folder:RealLife]]
* While Georgia Tech is heralded for having the first "All-Black" basketball team, what most people forget is that most teams were already ''predominantly'' black. They were simply the first to dump their Token White. To this day, white players make up a distinct minority in both college and the NBA. Especially the NBA, where ''80%'' of the players are black. However, In recent years teams have begun drawing from Europe, causing an influx of white players. That said, Asians and Latinos are even less common than white guys.
** This is happening with the NFL too, though there's an upsurge of Pacific Islanders as well. During the [[TurnOfTheMillennium 00's]] Joe Jurevicius and Wes Welker gained some notoriety as outstanding white wide receivers in the NFL. While the NFL's black majority isn't quite as severe as in the NBA (around 65%), black players dominate many key positions.
*** Quarterbacks, kickers, and punters remain predominantly white, and are typically the specific token white on the field at any given time. Black [=QBs=] aren't uncommon in college football, but historically few have gone on to success in the NFL.
** At times national squads from African countries will have a sole white player. For instance, South Africa's squad in the 2010 FIFAWorldCup included Matthew Booth, who admitted to [[http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/simonaustin/2009/08/south_africas_white_knight.html "stick out like a sore thumb"]] while playing with 10 Blacks.
*** Amusingly, some foreign journalists mistook the enthusiastic crowd's chants of "Boooooooth" every time Booth took the ball as if they were [[MistakenForRacist booing him]].
* Heather Morris, before she played Brittany on ''Series/{{Glee}}'', was the token white among {{Beyonce}}'s backup dancers, and she can be seen in many live performances of "Single Ladies". When Heather left to do ''Glee'', Beyonce joked that she was losing her white girl.
* Apparently you can ''rent'' white (or otherwise foreign) people in China to pretend to be a foreign employee of your company or an allied CEO. It's completely this trope that this practice exists; to prove that their companies are modern and global, Chinese businesses hire white people to be their token foreign dudes.
** Parodied by this ''Webcomic/ScandinaviaAndTheWorld'' [[http://satwcomic.com/office-pet strip]].
* While North Korea is one of the most restrictive and ethnically homogenous countries in the world, there is [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_and_British_defectors_in_the_Korean_War a handful of whites there]], believe it or not.
* Sean "Diddy" Combs's label Bad Boy Records focuses primarily on Hip Hop and R&B acts, and as such, their roster is primarily black artists. This made the white pop quartet [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream_%28American_group%29 Dream]] stand out like this.
** In a touch of irony/TokenMinorityCouple, the remix to their second single "This is Me" [[AWildRapperAppears featured]] Kain, the lone white rapper in the Bad Boy stable.
* LilWayne's Young Money label features mostly black artists like {{Drake}} (who is actually half-white), NickiMinaj, and MackMaine but also has LimpBizkit and ParisHilton
* Virtually every British jihadist or fundamentalist Muslim organisation will have at least one white convert in its ranks.
* Black street and prison gangs will occasionally accept [[WhiteGangBangers white members]] especially if they operate in an area with a fairly large white population. Sometimes gangs can accrue so many whites that they will split off into all-white affiliate gangs.
* Indie rock band Music/TVOnTheRadio is almost entirely black, except for gutarist David Sitek, who's white.

*** Somewhat justified, as Bed-Stuy, New York was a predominantly African American neighborhood at that time.

* ''TheSteveHarveyShow'' is notorious for this.

* In ''TheWayansBros'', the character is actually named "White Mike."
* And ''{{Martin}}'' with Shawn and Buckwhite (parody of Buckwheat).

* ''[[{{Desmonds}} Desmonds]]'' was set in a barber's shop in London, and the cast was almost exclusively black, except for Tony, one of the hairdressers, who was white. In one episode, he referred to black people as "we" or "us", prompting someone else to say that he'd been hanging around the rest of them for too long.
* Chris Potter on ''KenanAndKel'', and later on Mark.
* ''ARBernard'', a blaxploitation-flavored religious talk show airing on FamilyNet, will occaisionally include a white guest.

* Stevie from ''TheParkers''. On this show she's also a TwoferTokenMinority by also being the only slim woman.
* Alex in ''{{Tinsel}}''.
* In ''TheVampireDiaries'', witches and warlocks tend to be black, except for a warlock that works for Klaus named Maddox

* Turtle in AllOfUs
* In ''MartialLaw'', Louise was the only white character out of the main cast in season 1.

* Invoked an episode in ''KingOfTheHill,'' where an all-Asian country club attempts to recruit Hank just to convince the PGA that they're not racist. Hank refuses to go along with it when he figures it out.

* [[VideoGame/MenOfWar Men Of War: Vietnam]] have two [[UsefulNotes/RedsWithRockets Russian Spetsnaz]] advisors Fyodor Kazakov & Mikhail Morozov in the Vietcong campaign.

* Heather Morris, before she played Brittany on ''Series/{{Glee}}'', was the token white among {{Beyonce}}'s dancers (she can be seen in many live performances of "Single Ladies"). When Heather left to do ''Glee'', Beyonce jokingly lamented that she was losing her white girl.

* One of [[DaveChappelle Dave Chappelle's]] jokes is that all groups of black friends should have at least one Token White in their group:
--> "The one thing I'm seeing, you'll be walking down the street and you'll see a group of black dudes walking, not just any old black dudes, we're talking, you know, "thugs". There'd be some thugs, and in the group, they got one or two, sometimes as many as three white guys will be with them, did ya ever see that shit? Well, let me tell you something about those white guys. Those white guys are the most dangerous motherfuckers in them groups. (applause) Well, it's true, it's true, man. Ain't no tellin' what they've done to get them black dude's respect. But, them black dudes have seen them do some wild shit, I'll tell you that. I been trying to tell brothers that. Every group of brothers should have at least one white guy in it. I'm serious, for safety. 'Cause when the shit goes down, and shit WILL go down, somebody's gonna need to talk to the police. (laughter) That's when that white friend comes in handy. "Uh-oh, Ernie, wanna get this one?" "

* Heather Morris, before she played Brittany on ''{{Glee}}'', was the token white among {{Beyonce}}'s dancers (she can be seen in many live performances of "Single Ladies"). When Heather left to do ''Glee'', Beyonce jokingly lamented that she was losing her white girl.