| 1 | %% Trope was declared Administrivia/NoRealLifeExamplesPlease via crowner by the Real Life Maintenance thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/crowner.php?crowner_id=s71xtv1b |
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| 4 | %% Previous pic moved to EverythingIsRacist |
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| 7 | [[quoteright:350:[[Webcomic/SluggyFreelance https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sluggywhoops.png]]]] |
| 8 | |
| 9 | ->'''Homer:''' If we wanted to see Japanese people, we could have gone to the zoo.\ |
| 10 | '''Marge:''' ''Homer!''\ |
| 11 | '''Homer:''' What? The guy who washes the elephants is Japanese! His name is Takashi. He's in my book club! |
| 12 | -->-- ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS10E23ThirtyMinutesOverTokyo Thirty Minutes over Tokyo]]" |
| 13 | %% One quote per page, please. |
| 14 | |
| 15 | A character says or accidentally does something that is [[OneSideOfTheStory interpreted]] by everyone else as being racist or some other breed of bigotry, and they proceed to chew him out or start shunning him for it. If it is not the main plot for the story, it can be quickly cleared up, but otherwise, any attempt to prove that he's not really racist ends up backfiring and making him look even ''[[DiggingYourselfDeeper more]]'' racist. When the accused is finally confronted on his behavior, expect him to say something to the effect of, "I don't hate you because you're [minority status], I hate you because you're [completely valid reason to dislike someone]." |
| 16 | |
| 17 | If the people who believe this person prejudiced are ''themselves'' prejudiced, they'll be proud of him, leading to YourApprovalFillsMeWithShame. The character may also try ([[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial unconvincingly]]) to deny it by saying "SomeOfMyBestFriendsAreX." |
| 18 | |
| 19 | Compare DiscriminateAndSwitch, StereotypeReactionGag, CallingMeALogarithm. SisterTrope to EverythingIsRacist. May overlap with OneDialogueTwoConversations, SustainedMisunderstanding, PoorCommunicationKills, OpenMouthInsertFoot, ThatCameOutWrong, and other miscommunication tropes. See also InnocentBigot. Can go with GodwinsLawOfFacialHair, where the toothbrush mustache is associated with Hitler. |
| 20 | |
| 21 | ---- |
| 22 | !!Example Subpages: |
| 23 | |
| 24 | [[index]] |
| 25 | * MistakenForRacist/LiveActionTV |
| 26 | [[/index]] |
| 27 | |
| 28 | !!Other Examples: |
| 29 | |
| 30 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 31 | |
| 32 | [[folder:Comedy]] |
| 33 | * British comedian Creator/RossNoble has a few jokes and stories involving this trope: |
| 34 | ** He sometimes tells a story about one of his daughters, who loved juice so much as a baby that it was one of the first words she learned to say. One day, she saw a boy in stereotypical Orthodox Jewish attire drinking a carton of juice, and started shouting "Juice! Juice!" at him, while reaching for the carton in a way that could easily be mistaken for a certain kind of salute that was popular in 1930's Germany. The only thing Ross could think to say to alleviate the embarrassment was to tell the boy's horrified family "I'm sorry, she's not actually mine, I'm babysitting for Creator/MelGibson." |
| 35 | ** In another joke, Ross claims that prior to the 2016 Brexit referendum, he was worried that voters would become complacent due to predictions that it would be an easy win for Remain, and made sure to tell everyone he met "Don't trust [[FunWithHomophones the polls]]!" |
| 36 | * Creator/PattonOswalt had a similar incident, in which his daughter saw an elderly black man with long dreads and said "monkey!" Turns out she thought he looked like [[WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994 Rafiki]], but his reaction [[DiggingYourselfDeeper didn't help matters]], as he picked her up and held her in front of his face as he quickly exited the store in embarrassment. |
| 37 | [[/folder]] |
| 38 | |
| 39 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 40 | * As ''ComicBook/{{Aquaman}}'' is white and his ArchEnemy Black Manta is black, Arthur has on occasion come off looking like a racist, which is only emphasized by the fact that Aquaman has superpowers and Manta does not. Most notably, Manta once goaded Aquaman into attacking him in public when Manta didn't have his PowerArmor on, making it look like Aquaman had decided to just beat up a random black guy in broad daylight for no reason. |
| 41 | * In ''ComicBook/AstroCity'', a comic book publisher writes a comic where real-life supervillain Glow Worm, an enemy of the African-American hero Jack In The Box, is depicted as a white racist. Glow Worm, a mutant half-human[=/=]half-worm with blue skin, attacks the publisher in a rage and reveals that he is also black (that is, before he got turned into a mutant). |
| 42 | * ''ComicBook/TheAvengers'': |
| 43 | ** Ever since the events of ComicBook/AvengersVsXMen and ComicBook/DeathOfX, The Avengers' relationship with the ComicBook/XMen has been pretty heated, especially with [[Characters/MarvelComicsCyclops Cyclops]]. This has caused Marvel's Mutants and their Fanbase to develop a, quite frankly justified, AlternativeCharacterInterpretation [[FantasticRacism of the opposing team's views on Mutant rights]]. ComicBook/CaptainAmerica especially. From defending the Inhumans who were [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything gassing mutants to death]], to policing a hate rally of mutants in an Issue of Uncanny X-Men (2019). Captain America claims that he believes in the sanctity of the individual, to make up your own opinions and thoughts, even if they are those of a bigot. His mind hasn't changed even after Magneto [[ItMakesSenseInContext used his mind altering helmet to erase any Anti-Mutant thoughts]], revealing that there weren't any in the first place. Nevertheless, in an issue of Uncanny X-Men (2013), Cyclops delivers a well deserved ReasonYouSuckSpeech to Captain America and the Avengers for their inaction towards hate crimes commited against Mutants, stating they're just as bad as the people oppressing them. |
| 44 | ** An issue has ComicBook/IronMan getting extremely upset by the idea that the team needs to induct a minority member in order to diversify its line-up. His opposition becomes extreme enough that Duanne and Triathlon (who are both black) begin to insinuate that Tony is in fact, a racist. He tries to deny this, stating that he believes that the Avengers should only be the "best of the best" regardless of race, but he ultimately stops arguing after noting that he is indeed beginning to sound like a bigot. |
| 45 | ** While never saying that Tony is a racist, the narrative itself does go out of its way to try and justify the idea of diversifying the team. The Wasp for instance is shocked and upset when she realizes that there have only been a handful of non-white Avengers in the team's history, and an earlier issue by the same author has an African-American man noting that he wished the Avengers had some diversity so that his son could see that people like him could be heroes too. |
| 46 | ** Strange enough this issue has been in Avengers many times before. During the '80s the government and the people in the streets wanted the Avengers to be more diverse. The Avengers asked Black Panther to join them, but he turned them down since he didn't want to be the "Black Guy in the Team". |
| 47 | * There was a story arc in ''ComicBook/WestCoastAvengers'' involving nearly half the team quitting and forming their own short-lived splinter group over the issue of using lethal force in crimefighting. At one point, this team, composed of Mockingbird, Moon Knight and Tigra encounter Dr. Bill Foster, also known as the superhero Black Goliath, and later Giant-Man. At the end of their adventure together, Foster leaves, and the mentally disturbed Moon Knight quips "Good riddance! That man is not our kind!", prompting Tigra to rebuke his apparent bigotry. Moon Knight denies this, explaining that he was referring to the fact that Foster is not a killer like the rest of them. |
| 48 | * ''ComicBook/CaptainAmerica'' was accused of racism in the '90s, in the [[http://berkeleyplacecomics.wordpress.com/2013/03/12/avengers-326-328-first-appearance-of-rage/ issue that introduced]] the "Harlem hero" [[AngryBlackManStereotype Rage]]. He got in Cap's face to angrily demand why "Earth's Mightiest Heroes" were almost entirely white people. |
| 49 | * ComicBook/ArchieComics has this in a comic where Veronica throws a party. She tells Archie that she doesn't want certain friends of his there. Since he's hanging out with Chuck and Jughead at the time, he thinks she means Chuck (who's black) and becomes angry. Turns out she means Jughead, who tends to be a slob and rather greedy with the food. |
| 50 | * In ''Series/{{Angel}}: After the Fall'' Spike tells Angel he has "bigger fish to fry". Betta George, a CanonImmigrant [[MakesAsMuchSenseInContext telepathic fish]] demon [[BuffySpeak thingy]], is offended by this and calls him a racist. |
| 51 | * Played for laughs in issue #9 of [[ComicBook/ActionComicsNew52 Grant Morrison's run]] on ''ComicBook/ActionComics'', which focused on AlternateUniverse where Franchise/{{Superman}} was [[RaceLift black]]. The Lex Luthor of that Earth is still a light-skinned man, and upon being arrested, is shown arguing that he is not a racist and hates Superman because [[FantasticRacism he's an alien]], not because he's black. |
| 52 | * ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': |
| 53 | ** Happens with the fame-hungry villain Screwball in ''ComicBook/SuperiorSpiderMan''. She refuses to attack a woman she deems to be "too ethnic" because she's worried that it would make her seem like a racist. |
| 54 | ** During Ben Reilly's tenure as Spider-Man during ''ComicBook/TheCloneSaga'', he was acting on information from his boss about her ex-husband when he decided to keep tabs on her son for her after she said she was concerned for her son's well-being around him and that he wasn't reliable, thus was hostile towards the man. The man in question was an African-American undercover cop who thought Ben was a racist because he wasn't aware that Ben worked for his ex-wife and Ben was acting on what she said. |
| 55 | * ''ComicBook/GreenLantern'': |
| 56 | ** In volume 2, issue 76 ("No Evil Shall Escape My Sight"), Hal Jordan enters a neighborhood full of African-American families to deal with a mugging, and is quickly accused of racism by everyone. An elderly black man points out that Hal patrols the galaxy helping and protecting aliens, but hardly ever helps the black people. Hal is very shaken up by this, apparently forgetting that when he saves the world as part of the Corps or the Justice League, he saves it for, you know, every single race and ethnicity, not just light-skinned people. Then again, a recurring Inuit member of his support characters was "lovingly" referred to as Pieface (which all modern incarnations establish said character only being called that by actual racists). |
| 57 | ** When John Stewart was first chosen as a backup for Hal Jordan, Hal Jordan had misgivings on Stewart for being temperamental. The Guardian accompanying Jordan assumes he's taking issue with Stewart being a black man and calls him out on his seeming prejudice. |
| 58 | * In ''ComicBook/JLA1997'', a Neo-Nazi supervillainess hits on The Key, attracted to his [[AlbinosAreFreaks "purest white"]] skin. He's disgusted and tells her he's not a racist and doesn't want to look the way he does. |
| 59 | * ''ComicBook/UltimateMarvel'': |
| 60 | ** At one point in ''ComicBook/SpiderVerse'', [[ComicBook/UltimateSpiderMan Miles Morales]] and the Spider-Man from the ''[[WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan2012 Ultimate Spider-Man]]'' TV show team up with the Spider-Man from the [[WesternAnimation/SpiderMan1967 '60s animated series]]. When Miles unmasks, the '60s Spider-Man is visibly shocked, causing the animated Ultimate Spidey to think he's a racist. Instead, it turns out that '60s Spidey is proud to learn that the Spider-Man legacy has lived on, and was actually expressing shock at the fact that the new Spider-Man is so young. |
| 61 | --->'''Ultimate Cartoon Peter Parker:''' ''[addressing the fourth wall]'' Oh, snap! Don't tell me "Spider-''Series/MadMen''" is old-fashioned in bad ways, too! |
| 62 | ** A similar joke occurs in ''Divided We Fall''. [[ComicBook/YoungAvengers Stature]] captures Miles after being brainwashed by the Mind Gem, and states that the new Spider-Man isn't what she was expecting. Miles calls her a racist in his internal narration but then realizes she was likely referring to the fact that he's only 13-years old. |
| 63 | ** ''ComicBook/UltimateFF'': Van Damme gets into the interrogation cell, grabs [[ComicBook/SpiderHam Miles Horhames]] (an AnthropomorphicAnimalAdaptation of [[Characters/MarvelComicsMilesMorales Miles Morales]] as a pig) and says "tell the truth or die, swine". Miles thought that was racist. |
| 64 | * In an early issue of ''ComicBook/{{Spawn}}'', title character Al Simmons (who is black himself) is mistaken by a southern black man for a klansman thanks to his red cloak and mask, which leads him to take off the mask and reveal his scarred face. |
| 65 | * Similarly, in ''ComicBook/{{Supreme}}'', Jack O'Lantern's ghostly costume causes a race-hate group member to assume he's ready for a meeting. Might count as StylisticSuck, since the first thing people assume when they see Jack's costume is that he's ready for a Halloween party. |
| 66 | * A variant in one ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' comic where a character is mistaken for being a ''religious'' bigot. While the crew is escorting a group of pagan pilgrims for a job, they're out of nowhere attacked by what seem like crazed bandits raving about putting a stop to the pilgrims' pagan rituals. The crew drive them off, assuming they were some kind of intolerant and extremist Christian fundamentalists. [[spoiler:They were actually trying to ''save the crew''; those "pilgrims" turn out to actually be [[HollywoodSatanist a deranged cult]] that were planning to use the crew in a HumanSacrifice once they had outlived their usefulness as bodyguards.]] |
| 67 | [[/folder]] |
| 68 | |
| 69 | [[folder:Comic Strips]] |
| 70 | * During one of Jesse Jackson's runs for President, a ''ComicStrip/BloomCounty'' arc centered on Binkley's father scared to death that people would think he was racist because he didn't think he could vote for Jackson. Finally, Oliver Jones' father (who is black and moderately conservative) assured him, "On behalf of all black people, we do not, repeat, NOT, hate you!" |
| 71 | * One ''ComicStrip/ForBetterOrForWorse'' storyline has a new family move in next door while Michael and Elizabeth are still kids. Michael excitedly says "Look, mom, they're--!" only to be repeatedly shushed because they're Japanese-Canadian... until he finally gets it out with "they're our age!" |
| 72 | * ''ComicStrip/KnightsOfTheDinnerTable'': While attending Garycon, B.A. gets covered in dye from an exploding dye pack when Dave attempts to open Brian's briefcase (ItMakesSenseInContext). He attempts to remove it with lighter fluid and only succeeds in smearing it all over his face and hands, making it look like he is in BlackFace. After several people make comments about how offensive his costume is, Sheila is able to explain it away as a (very poor) Drow cosplay. |
| 73 | * ''ComicStrip/MadamAndEve'': Happens to the titular characters when they [[http://www.madamandeve.co.za/cartoons/me002575.gif argue]] over which [[EasternZodiac Chinese New Year animal]] is in effect. |
| 74 | [[/folder]] |
| 75 | |
| 76 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 77 | * In ''Fanfic/XCOMFromTheAshesOfTemples'': Poor Carlock gets mistaken for both a racist and a sexist when he tries to explain why sending women or non-Caucasians for covert ops to infiltrate EXALT is a really bad idea. The perfectly valid reason is that EXALT only have white men in their ranks, but his choice of words [[ThatCameOutWrong could have been better.]] |
| 78 | * ''Fanfic/PonyPOVSeries'': Shining Armor is not a fan of LeeroyJenkins tactics, and cites some Zebra warlords who tried them and lost to illustrate his point. The Pegasus Interviewer smacks him and calls him a racist until he says he was talking about those specific warlords, not Zebras in general. |
| 79 | * In a crossover fiction by Creator/AAPessimal which brings together the ''Literature/TheScienceOfDiscworld'' and ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'', [[note]] go to ''Fanfic/TheManyWorldsInterpretation''[[/note]] Discworld Assassin Johanna Smith-Rhodes comes from the Disc's Expy of UsefulNotes/SouthAfrica. To blend in at Caltech she adopts the cover identity of being an academic zoologist from Earth's South Africa. She meets real expat South Africans in a public park in Pasadena where her accent, demeanor and general attitude make her very welcome indeed. Then she discovers to her horror their mindsets are firmly stuck in [[UsefulNotes/TheApartheidEra the Good Old Days]], which is why they emigrated to find common cause with white supremacists in the USA. Even though her own society on the Disc is an apartheid one, Johanna has no sympathy with the philosophy and gets out of her compatriots' company as soon as she can. But this has been noted by a certain Ms. Janine Davis who was watching. A routine interview with Caltech's HR department follows the next day. Johanna's protestations that, for instance, "one of my best friends is bleck!" drops her more deeply into it. She then gets ''all'' the sensitivity training courses. ''At once''. As this took Howard Wolowitz a year to achieve, he is most impressed. Her realization is what amounts to a RealLife observation - that white South Africans anywhere outside South Africa are presumed automatically to be racist, even twenty years after the end of UsefulNotes/TheApartheidEra, and the onus is on them to amply demonstrate that they're not. Especially Afrikaaners. |
| 80 | * ''Fanfic/ThePiecesLieWhereTheyFell'': Rex, when he hears some of Vix-Lei's jokes, assumes she's bigoted towards Diamond Dogs. She's not - she's just InnocentlyInsensitive and doesn't know she's offending him. |
| 81 | * ''Fanfic/EscapeFromTheMoon'': In the sequel ''The Mare From the Moon'', when Spliced starts explaining about her world's Pures (Alicorns) and Thirds (the other three tribes, who have only a ''third'' of what a ''Pure'' has), she realizes that this might sound like racism, and starts explaining that to her, the differences between the tribes are purely biological, with Thirds variously lacking any or all of the following: a carbuncle (the organ that generates their thaumatics) and the particular keratin (a fibrous structural protein) that makes up a horn, or the bones that form wings. |
| 82 | * ''Fanfic/WhiteSheepRWBY'': Weiss tells Adam that Beacon is closed to "your kind," and he assumes she means because he's a [[LittleBitBeastly Faunus]]. She clarifies that it's because he's a terrorist. Adam rolls his eyes and thinks that Weiss probably thinks every Faunus is a terrorist. He completely ignores the fact that he ''is'' a terrorist, he's wearing the mask of a terrorist organization, and the organization in question is currently attacking Beacon. |
| 83 | * ''Fanfic/RWBYEpicOfRemnant'': Blake Belladonna [[MistakenNationality assumes from Lancelot's looks and the fact that he's friends with Weiss Schnee that he's from Atlas]]. Then, because a majority of Atlas is racist against Faunus, she assumes he's a racist. She is thrown for a loop when he shows he isn't a racist. |
| 84 | * ''Fanfic/RemnantInferisDOOM'': Blake Belladonna and the White Fang tend to assume the Doom Slayer is racist against Faunus because he slaughtered several White Fang members and he tends to call Faunus "beastkin". The thing is, Doom Slayer doesn't care who or what you are; if you are evil, he will kill you, and every White Fang member he killed was a murderer. "Beastkin" is simply what Faunus are called in his homeland. |
| 85 | * ''Webcomic/ATaleOfTwoRulers'': When Vaati [[https://figmentforms.tumblr.com/post/614112093667557376/part-207-of-a-tale-of-two-rulers-march-31 learns]] that Zelda [[SecretSecretKeeper knew all along]] about his HumanDisguise, he assumes that her dislike of him is because he's a Minish, when in fact it's because he [[AbhorrentAdmirer crassly tries to seduce her]] while she's engaged and, later, married. |
| 86 | -->'''Zelda:''' You have many things to be ashamed of... but being a Minish isn't one of them.\ |
| 87 | '''Vaati:''' And yet you ''hate'' me.\ |
| 88 | '''Zelda:''' [[BluntYes Of course I do]]... But for who you ''are'' deep, deep in your ''heart''. |
| 89 | * Invoked in ''Fanfic/MaFille''; during an argument, Katrina (white) tells Claire (Asian) to go back to the rock she's been living under to think they're still friends. Claire later posts online that Katrina told her to go back to her own country. However, this backfires as it turns out that a boy named Kevin recorded their fight, which contains the real exchange. |
| 90 | * ''FanFic/ButDoctorIAmPagliacci'': Amanda Waller muses that most people think she doesn't like fellow agent Mr. Bones because of his odd appearance (he looks like a skeleton because every ''non''-bone part of him is invisible), and he teases her about discriminating against him because he's African-American (she has no idea whether or not he's kidding; for the record, [[SincerityMode he isn't]]), but the ''actual'' reason for her distaste is because she sees herself as a woman of principles and doesn't think that he has any. |
| 91 | * Bakugo in ''Fanfic/ParagonsOfVirtueAndGlory''. He's a deeply unpleasant person who calls everyone around him "extras" and who hardly ever has something positive to say. However, it's his habit of using derogatory nicknames based on physical features that gets him in big trouble, as [[LittleBitBeastly Faunus]] consider that racist. |
| 92 | * * ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/14311641/19/White-Knight-Errant White Knight Errant]]'': Cardin Winchester's father is assumed to be racist by almost everyone, including his own son, for a number of reasons. The two biggest reasons are that his father fought against the Faunus in the war and that he's pushing back against a workers rights bill for Faunus. He makes it clear that the former has nothing to do with him and the latter is because he thinks categorizing people is just something the rich do to keep everyone busy fighting each other while they consolidate their power, citing that such actions split Mistral into being akin to dozens of smaller city states than a single country. The man's actual problem with the bill is that it only protects Faunus and he wants a universal workers rights bill that protects everyone. |
| 93 | [[/folder]] |
| 94 | |
| 95 | [[folder:Films -- Live-Action]] |
| 96 | * Occurs in the Jackie Robinson biopic ''Film/FortyTwo'', when the Robinsons are walking down the street when a gruff-looking (white) man approaches them. They prepare for a fight, only for the man to sternly say that he's a supporter who thinks Jackie should be allowed to play baseball as long as he has the talent. |
| 97 | * The main character in the opening scenes of ''Film/AngerManagement'', in the middle of his HumiliationConga that started with getting (falsely) accused of physically harassing an airplane stewardess, makes the mistake of proclaiming "What is it with you people?" to the black air marshal who comes up to investigate. |
| 98 | * In ''Film/BeautyShop'', Gina quits her job at the beginning of the movie mostly because she misunderstands the way her foreign boss pronounces the word "Moniker". (He's not actually racist and didn't intentionally say the N-word like she originally thought, but he is still an egotistical, overly competitive douche.) |
| 99 | * In ''Film/TheBigNight'', George is entranced by a Black singer and tries to compliment the singer as they leave, but he uses an unintentionally racist phrase that he regrets. |
| 100 | * In the 1955 film ''Film/BlackboardJungle'' the protagonist gets mistaken for a racist when he uses racial slurs in class. One of his students told the principal about it without context to get him into trouble. |
| 101 | * Occurs in ''Film/CabinFever''. At one point the characters ask a store owner why he has a high-powered rifle behind the counter, and he explains it's "for the ''Niggers''", much to the shock and worry of the characters. At the end of the movie [[spoiler: we see a black group pull up to the store, and the owner goes into the back hurriedly... only to hand them the gun that they'd apparently ordered, at which point the audience realizes that the owner actually meant "Niggas" and simply doesn't know the difference between using "er" and "a"]]. That said, blacks and anti-racists would still be offended. |
| 102 | * In ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'', Nick Fury is stopped by some cops, and thinks that they're going to harass him for being black. It turns out they're actually a [=HYDRA=] death squad that wants to assassinate him. |
| 103 | * In ''Film/ClearHistory'', Rolly punches a black guy who pops up at him at his birthday party. The black guy spends the rest of the film finding pretenses to accuse Rolly of being prejudiced against blacks. It doesn't help that Rolly keeps screwing up the guy's relationship with his girlfriend. |
| 104 | * In ''Film/ClerksII'', Randall loudly complains about being treated "like a porch monkey" in front of a couple of black customers. They react about how you'd expect. Randal then admits he wasn't aware "porch monkey" was a racial slur and it was just a phrase he picked up from his [[RacistGrandma grandma]] and he spends much of the rest of the movie attempting to reclaim the phrase. |
| 105 | * ''Film/TheConfirmation'': Drake mentions this happened once after he logged onto a Neo-Nazi website when he was really just trying to find a recipe for German pancakes. |
| 106 | * Referenced in ''Film/{{Crash}}''. Jean (a white woman) states that she felt uncomfortable when she saw two black men (who turned out to be carjackers) coming toward her, but she didn't say or do anything because she didn't want to look racist. |
| 107 | * In ''Film/DieHardWithAVengeance'', the BigBad of the film, portrayed by Jeremy Irons, blackmails John [=McClane=] into standing on a street corner in the middle of Harlem wearing a sandwich board that reads "I Hate Niggers". He very nearly gets killed by a gang of local street thugs but is saved by Zeus. Note that when they were filming the scene, Creator/BruceWillis wore a blank sign, because they were genuinely worried that he'd get killed. They photoshopped "I Hate Niggers" onto it for the theatrical release, and "I Hate Everybody" was added in post [[{{bowdlerise}} for the TV edit]]. Of course, this means the black people in the neighborhood appear to attack [=McClane=] for no real reason leading to some UnfortunateImplications. |
| 108 | * In the 2005 ''Film/TheDukesOfHazzard'' film, Bo and Luke are shown stuck in traffic. As several other drivers pass them they make comments. The first is a stereotypical [[DeepSouth redneck]] who shouts out "Southern by the Grace of God!" leaving them a little confused. Then a black couple drives by them and asks them if they're late for their Klan meeting, leaving them even more confused. Another redneck drives by complimenting them again. Then another black woman drives by and says "Nice roof." Bo and Luke then check their roof of the General Lee and discover the Confederate flag that it was so well known for on the TV series. |
| 109 | * ''Film/GuessWho'', a race-inverted remake of ''Film/GuessWhosComingToDinner'', is built on this trope. The patriarch (Bernie Mac) mistakes his daughter's fiance for racist for most of the film. Near the end, the fiance tries to call him out on it, only to accidentally use the words "you people" to the predictable effect. [[spoiler:The father eventually realizes that the reason his daughter's fiance is unemployed is that he quit his high-paying job after his racist boss told him to break off the engagement. He commends the guy for sticking up for her and then calls him an idiot for quitting his job over an insult]]. |
| 110 | * In ''Film/HowToRobABank'', while Jason is talking to negotiator Officer [=DeGepse=], he mentions not liking being surrounded by 'armed assholes' then realises that [=DeGepse=] might think he means the police and adds "I don't mean you people". This is followed by a long silence from [=DeGepse=], who is black. Sensing something is wrong, Jason says [[DiggingYourselfDeeper "You're not black or something, are you?"]]. Fortunately for Jason, Jessica takes the phone from him and explains the situation to [=DeGepse=]. |
| 111 | * In Creator/SofiaCoppola's short film ''Lick the Star,'' GossipEvolution on the school bus turns AlphaBitch Chloe's InnocentlyInsensitive remark about her black friend into full-blown racism, with disastrous consequences. |
| 112 | * ''Film/MeMyselfAndIrene'': Charlie (Creator/JimCarrey) incurs the wrath of a [[TwoferTokenMinority black midget]] chauffeur by asking him "Do you people take credit cards?" (He was speaking of the business itself, not the driver, who was a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Cox_(actor) black midget]], [[IKnowKungFu wielding nunchuks]], and also a Mensa member.) |
| 113 | * The trope is sideswiped by Will Smith in ''Film/MenInBlack3'': he's pulled over by a couple of policemen, and after neuralizing them gives them a dressing down about how they're racists who only stopped him because he's black, so they assumed he stole the nice car he's driving. |
| 114 | -->'''J:''' Keep in mind, just because you see a black man driving a car, does not mean he stole it! ''[pause]'' Okay, I ''did'' steal this one -- but ''not because I'm black!'' |
| 115 | * In the post-credits scene of ''My Boss's Daughter'', when Hans (the daughter's ex-boyfriend) is sent to Thailand to oversee the new factory, he's told "You people! Back of bus!" by a bus driver. At first, he thinks it's because he's black, but the driver then yells "Smoker! Back of bus!" Hans then raises his other hand, holding a cigarette, and the scene cuts to several people smoking at the back of the bus. |
| 116 | * In ''Film/NationalSecurity'', which gets a good half-hour out of the joke, Earl (Black) played by Martin Lawrence tries to get into his car when he finds that he has locked his keys inside. The police officer Hank (White) played by Steve Zahn confronts Earl and mistakes him for a car thief trying to break into the car. However, immediately after Earl is cuffed a bumblebee arrives and, as Earl is allergic to bumblebees, Hank attempts to swat the bee away to protect Earl from a potentially lethal reaction. Unfortunately, all that the bystanders see is a white cop savagely swinging a nightstick near a hand-cuffed black man, and to top it off the bee ''does'' manage to sting Earl. Afterward, with a jittery recording of the encounter on the news and Earl seemingly bruised from the beating (But really just swollen from the bee sting) Hank was convicted with aggravated assault by an all-black jury (and a single timid white guy) and sentenced to six months in prison. To be sure, the DA is initially reluctant to pursue the case, but Hank's Lieutenant insists that letting Hank off would result in a race riot. |
| 117 | * In the Creator/DenzelWashington film ''Out of Time'', an older woman is at a police station reporting on a prowler and excitedly identifies Denzel's character as the culprit. When it's revealed that he is the chief of police, she uncertainly starts pointing out other people of color as the culprit and is dismissed as racist. However, the audience knows that Denzel really ''was'' the culprit. |
| 118 | * The first ''Film/RushHour'' movie combines this with NWordPrivileges when Carter (who's black) and Lee (who's Asian) go to a pool hall. Carter, who's known by the patrons, greets them by saying "What's up, ma nigga?" While Carter goes into a back room to interrogate a source, Lee tries to start a friendly chat with the bartender using the same line (to be fair, though, Carter ''had'' previously instructed him to "follow my lead, and do what I do"). Since this is a Creator/JackieChan movie, [[BarBrawl Fighting Ensues]]. |
| 119 | * In ''Film/ScaryMovie3'', George puts on a white hoodie that resembles a KKK hood and does what looks like a Nazi salute in front of a predominantly black audience. This turns out [[DestinationDefenestration about as well as you'd expect]] for him. |
| 120 | * ''Film/ShowdownInLittleTokyo'': Midway through the film, half-Japanese Johnny Murata vents to Chris Kenner about the LAPD assigning him to Little Tokyo despite the fact he barely knows anything about his mother's culture besides martial arts. He wanted Malibu and thinks it's racist that he got sent there. Kenner gently informs his partner that Malibu is an L.A. ''Sheriff's'' Department jurisdiction. |
| 121 | * In ''Film/SoulPlane'', Elvis Hunkee (Tom Arnold) meets an old black classmate named Karl at the airport. Karl remembers Hunkee since he and the other kids always pick him last when playing basketball due to the fact he was black. But Hunkee reveals a funny shocker to Karl: it turns out the other kids picked him last not because he was black but because he was a horrible basketball player! The ironic part was the classmate is actually Karl Malone of the L.A. Lakers, a famous NBA player which Hunkee think he's joking which leaves Karl bewildered by this revelation. |
| 122 | * "What do you mean, 'you people'?" from ''Film/TropicThunder''. A subverted example since it was spoken by a white guy ''playing'' a black guy, and then an actual black guy asks what ''he'' means. |
| 123 | * An incredibly awkward version pops up in ''Film/TrueCrime'' when Creator/ClintEastwood's character goes to see the mother of a black possible witness. She assumes he's racist, and while he's sputtering, trying to explain himself, she correctly figures out that the other two witnesses and the victim were all white. Eastwood's character tells her she's "making it into a race thing" and tells her the condemned man he's trying to save is ''also'' black. She tells him the man he came to see has been dead for three years and asks him where he was when he got stabbed. |
| 124 | * ''Film/Deadpool2'': |
| 125 | ** Deadpool is shocked when Negasonic Teenage Warhead shows up with a girlfriend. Negasonic calls him an outdated homophobe, but Deadpool clarifies that he's surprised Negasonic got ''anyone'' to date her. [[EmoTeen She can't really argue with that]]. |
| 126 | ** Deadpool keeps referring to Cable as a racist after the latter kills minor villain Black Tom Cassidy, who is a white man. After meeting Black Tom, Deadpool forgot everything about him, "except that he was African-American". |
| 127 | * The homophobia variant happens in ''Film/SetItUp''. Harper and Charlie are trying to get Kirsten and Rick together, and scheme to get them on the kiss cam. After they refuse to kiss on camera, the kiss cam pans to two men who do make out. Charlie boos them and is called out by some spectators. |
| 128 | -->'''Charlie:''' It's for a different reason! |
| 129 | * In ''The Human Stain'' (adapted from the Creator/PhilipRoth novel of the same name), professor of literature Coleman Silk refers to two students who never show up for his class as "spooks", the full question being "Do they exist or are they spooks?" As it turns out, the two students whom he has never seen are black, and because "spook" is (besides its other meanings) a slur for black people, the professor is accused of racism. Silk turns to his black fellows for support, but feels betrayed when they do not take his side, and eventually resigns from his position. The big revelation of the story is [[spoiler:Silk is an African-American who has "passed for white" in his adult life.]] |
| 130 | [[/folder]] |
| 131 | |
| 132 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 133 | * ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': In ''Literature/TheLastContinent'', Rincewind mistakes ''himself'' for a racist, because [[ComicallyMissingThePoint he erroneously believes the word means someone who is good at running]]. Once he finds out what it actually means, he is surprised but realizes he isn't one after all -- he only categorizes the world into "people who are trying to kill him" and "people who are not". |
| 134 | * ''Literature/EstherDiamond'': At one point in ''Disappearing Nightly'' Hieronymous tells Esther that it's possible that "your people" were behind the disappearance. She takes that remark as anti-Semitic and stats to get defensive before he clarifies that he meant non-magical people. |
| 135 | * ''Literature/{{Godzilla}}'': The novel ''Godzilla Vs. the Robot Monsters'' features Jack Strongbow, a Blackfoot brave with a strong dislike of Joel Mitchell, a white man working for the U.S. Department of the Interior. In one scene, his girlfriend, Theresa Rainbird, accuses him of hating Joel just for being white, completely ignoring the fact that Jack's best friend and almost brother Wayne is white, as are some other people he's friends with. For his part, Jack privately thinks that he has a whole host of reasons for disliking Joel, none of them related to race, but doesn't bother to voice any of them to Theresa because he knows that, in the mood she's in then, she won't listen. |
| 136 | * ''Literature/HarryPotter'': |
| 137 | ** In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets'', when the Hufflepuffs are afraid of Harry because they think he's the Heir of Slytherin, Ernie mentions that he's heard Harry hates his Muggle relatives. However, he does not seem to be aware that Harry hates the Dursleys because they're abusive, not because they're Muggles. |
| 138 | ** In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire'', while the Weasleys are picking up Harry from the Dursleys, Fred and George decide to have some fun (and get revenge on Dudley for bullying Harry) by "accidentally" dropping a toffee in the living room to tempt Dudley into eating it, knowing he's on a diet. Said toffee is actually an invention of theirs that causes people's tongues to turn purple and grow as large as four feet long when they eat one. Arthur chastises them for using magic to mistreat a Muggle for their own amusement. Fred and George indignantly tell him they didn't give it to him because he's a Muggle, they gave it to him because he's "[[FatBastard a great]] [[TheBully bullying]] [[{{Jerkass}} git]]". |
| 139 | ** Dumbledore’s long-dead father is believed to have been a Muggle-hater due to attacking three Muggle boys. Harry finds out the truth is much more complicated than that [[note]] The boys “attacked” (in a way that’s never truly explained) his daughter and he did it because of that, not because they were Muggles[[/note]] and comes to realize it’s silly to even think that because he was married to and had three kids with a Muggleborn witch. |
| 140 | ** Viktor Krum mistakes Xenophillius Lovegood for a neo-Grindelwald sympathizer for wearing the Deathly Hallows symbol, which is a fantasy take on a UsefulNotes/NonNaziSwastika. For context, the Deathly Hallows are three legendary magical objects, and the symbol originally meant that the wearer was interested in finding said objects. Grindelwald was one such wizard (and was known to have carved the symbol into the walls of Durmstrang), but Lovegood became interested in the search entirely independently. |
| 141 | * In the short story [[https://www.short-story.me/stories/horror-stories/335-a-hot-time-in-the-old-town "A Hot Time in the Old Town"]] by Creator/DesmondWarzel, the elderly gentleman telling the story to the narrator was a landlord, whose house was avoided by potential black tenants because of a hate crime homicide that had taken place there. As it turns out, this is a wise decision on their part, because [[spoiler:it's not the landlord who's racist, but [[GeniusLoci the house itself that has been poisoned by the original crime.]].]] |
| 142 | * In Creator/PhilipRoth's novel ''The Human Stain'', professor of literature Coleman Silk refers to two students who never show up for his class as "spooks", the full question being "Do they exist or are they spooks?" As it turns out, the two students whom he has never seen are black, and because "spook" is (besides its other meanings) also a slur for black people, the professor is accused of racism. The conflict escalates until Silk resigns from his job in protest. The faculty admits he probably was not intentionally being racist, but he just shouldn't have used that word. It is implied that the faculty was resentful because he created some unpopular tenure reforms. |
| 143 | * In Bryan Miranda's ''Literature/TheJourneyToAtlantis'', Hispanic José is insulted on his race by Chris, calling him a "spick" and referencing his ability to reach America without knowing how to swim. Although [[spoiler: he isn't really acting of his own accord but is being influenced by [[{{Big Bad}} Loki]]]]. |
| 144 | * OlderThanRadio: In ''[[Literature/TheLeatherstockingTales The Last of the Mohicans]]'' Colonel Munro flies into a rage when Major Heyward asks for his daughter's hand in marriage and it turns out that the one he wants is not Cora (whose mother was part-black), but her younger half-sister Alice (whose mother was white). Heyward has a hard time convincing Munro that he just happens to be attracted to Alice more than to Cora (the novel at that point already has established that he in fact greatly admires Cora for her spirit and inner strength). It did not help that Heyward is English, as the crusty Scotsman Munro sees racism against blacks and people with black ancestry as a very English prejudice. |
| 145 | * In the Franchise/{{Riordanverse}}, [[DivineParentage demigods]] are often called "half-bloods". This causes issues sometimes. |
| 146 | ** In the first ''Literature/TheHeroesOfOlympus'' book [[GeniusBruiser Annabeth]] uses this term upon meeting [[HeartIsAnAwesomePower Piper]], who is taken aback, as her father is Cherokee and she's always assumed that her MissingMom was white. It's then clarified that Annabeth is ''actually'' talking about her mother being a goddess. |
| 147 | ** The same thing happens in "The Son of Sobek," the first ''Literature/DemigodsAndMagicians'' crossover story. Percy assumes that Carter is a "half-blood" like him, not realizing that a.) magicians powered by [[Myth/EgyptianMythology Egyptian gods]] also exist in this setting, and b.) Carter is, in fact, biracial and might take that term badly. |
| 148 | ** In ''Literature/MagnusChaseAndTheGodsOfAsgard'' Magnus asks Samira, a Muslim Valkyrie, about falafel. Sam assumes it’s a crack at her race, and Magnus clarifies that he really does just like falafel, as when he was homeless a restaurant would give it to him. |
| 149 | * ''Literature/StarWarsAftermath'': After Sinjir turns down Jas's offer of sex, she thinks at first this is because she's a [[HornedHumanoid Zabrak]], and gets angry. He quickly corrects her that no, [[IncompatibleOrientation it's because he's gay]]. |
| 150 | * ''Literature/WhenYouReachMe'': Miranda calls Julia "Swiss Miss", in reference to her Swiss watch, but it's mistaken by Jimmy (who approves) and later Annemarie (who does not) as a reference to her skin color (Swiss Miss is an American hot chocolate brand). |
| 151 | [[/folder]] |
| 152 | |
| 153 | [[folder:Music]] |
| 154 | * Music/TimMinchin's "Cont" or "Context" has Minchin declare his disdain for minority after minority, only to stop and reveal that he had half the lyrics covered up. He then starts again from the top and incorporates the rest of the lyrics, which provide much-needed context: |
| 155 | -->'''Minchin:''' I don't like Jews... who make and distribute kiddie porn. |
| 156 | [[/folder]] |
| 157 | |
| 158 | [[folder:Podcasts]] |
| 159 | * Richard Herring's ''Podcast/AsItOccursToMe'' podcast. Richard describes how twenty years ago he was playing a skinhead in a play and was turned away from a Pizza Hut because they assumed he was racist. He then told of how he was recently given bad service in a branch of Pizza Express because he has a Hitler mustache (which he had because for his stand-up show ''Hitler Moustache''). He said there should be a campaign against people who aren't racist being discriminated because people think they're racist (although he admits that he is probably the only person with that problem). Funny, considering that a major percentage of skinheads are decidedly anti-racist, and hold special loathing towards those who mixed the neo-Nazi and skinhead subcultures together. |
| 160 | * In ''Radio/TrueCapitalist'', this is subverted. Ghost goes on about the trolls making "false indictments" of his racism, yet Ghost makes fun of minorities and stereotypes ''all the time''. |
| 161 | [[/folder]] |
| 162 | |
| 163 | [[folder:Pro Wrestling]] |
| 164 | * Wrestling/MuhammadHassan would very often accuse the fans and the other wrestlers of being against him solely for being Middle Eastern. Despite Wrestling/JohnCena claiming that "We don't hate you because you're Arab-American, we hate you because you're ''Asshole-American''!", he was not exactly far off the mark with his claims. [[note]]The wrestler himself was Italian-American. [[/note]] |
| 165 | * Happened during a feud between Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin & [[Wrestling/RonSimmons Faarooq]]: |
| 166 | -->'''Austin:''' It's not a black thing, it's not a white thing; it's a [[BuffySpeak me kicking your ass thing]]! |
| 167 | * [[Wrestling/AllenCoage Bad News Brown]] would often accuse white opponents of being racist against blacks like him. In one infamous spot, Wrestling/RoddyPiper showed up to their match with half of his body [[{{Blackface}} painted black]] and declared that color doesn't matter. |
| 168 | * During a June 2018 interview, Wrestling/KennyOmega stated that foreign wrestlers in [[Wrestling/NewJapanProWrestling New Japan]] were "hungrier and worked harder" than the native talent. Two fans misconstrued this and declared Omega a racist despite his being pro wrestling's greatest OccidentalOtaku and the numerous examples that many hardcore NJPW fans of both Japanese and Western origins have noted to back up what he's saying. |
| 169 | [[/folder]] |
| 170 | |
| 171 | [[folder:Radio]] |
| 172 | * An episode of ''Radio/JohnFinnemoresSouvenirProgramme'' features a man who is convinced [[RacistGrandma his granddad is racist]]. The pattern of the sketch is: Grandad says "Now, the thing about [race]...", his grandson tries to stop him, and he actually says something complimentary. The grandson protests that this is still stereotyping, and eventually becomes so confused that ''he'' starts saying racist stuff. |
| 173 | [[/folder]] |
| 174 | |
| 175 | [[folder:Theatre]] |
| 176 | * In ''Theatre/AvenueQ'', Kate Monster getting offended when Princeton asks if she and [[SpeciesSurname Trekkie Monster]] are related is the lead-in to the song "Everyone's a Little Bit Racist". Kate herself and two other characters say things that would qualify for this trope if they didn't all end up agreeing that they are racist. |
| 177 | * ''Theatre/{{Spamalot}}:'' In the 2023 Broadway revival, Galahad (played by Black actor Nik Walker) takes offense to the French Taunted pronouncing “knights” as “kuh-niggits”, since it sounds a lot like [[NWordPrivileges a certain other word]]. |
| 178 | [[/folder]] |
| 179 | |
| 180 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 181 | * There have been a handful of non-English ''VideoGame/ApexLegends'' players that have ran afoul of the game's TOS regarding hate speech and harassment, where something they type out in text chat in their ''own native language'' leads to a 7-day suspension for hate speech due to whatever they typed out being mistaken for the N-word. |
| 182 | ** Two [[https://twitter.com/mokomoko0157/status/1409421937491599368 Japanese]] [[https://i.redd.it/wsiho1ibugq61.png players]] were hit with suspensions for hate speech. In both cases, someone on the player's team mistook their romaji rendering of "逃げろ" (nigero), which translates to "RUN!!", as the N-word. |
| 183 | ** An [[https://twitter.com/a9ito/status/1415050711386124289 Indonesian player]] also got slapped with a suspension for typing out "No" in their native language. "No" in Indonesian is "Ngga". |
| 184 | * ''VideoGame/IWasATeenageExocolonist'': One factor in the PoorCommunicationKills between Dys and Tang is that twins started drifting apart right around the time Tang got gene therapy to get a body of the right sex, and everyone assumed that Dys had a problem with it. In reality, as Dys himself puts it, he knew Tang was a girl "five minutes after she knew" and considered her his sister long before anyone else did. What really happened is that Tang's already prolific intelligence latched onto the science behind her transition and gave her a newfound motivation to excel academically, with the nasty side effect of turning her into an InsufferableGenius. This interacted badly with their family's history of chronic depression, worsening a bad patch Dys was having independently. By the game's beginning, Tang is genuinely worried about Dys but expresses it in a way that is easy to read as her only pretending to worry because she's expected to do so as his sister, while a BookDumb Dys is living on the fringes of the colony's society with a severe case of SuccessfulSiblingSyndrome. |
| 185 | [[/folder]] |
| 186 | |
| 187 | [[folder:Web Animation]] |
| 188 | * In the ''WebAnimation/BattlefieldFriends'' episode "Recon C4", the Noob says that he'd expect the Medic (who is black) to steal his C4, leading to this exchange: |
| 189 | -->'''Medic:''' The fuck is that supposed to mean!?\ |
| 190 | '''Noob:''' You know what it's supposed to mean!\ |
| 191 | '''Medic:''' No, I don't! Tell me!\ |
| 192 | '''Noob:''' You're always stealing my kills with your overpowered rifles!\ |
| 193 | '''Medic:''' ...oh... Oh, I thought you were s--... never mind. |
| 194 | * ''WebAnimation/CyanideAndHappiness'' introduces a superhero known as White Knight (clad in garbs reminiscent of the KKK, wears shoes with the Nazi insignia imprinted on the soles, has a cape bearing the Confederate Flag, and flies around on a burning cross), who has brought in Criminals throughout his city (that were all consisting of African-Americans). The Police Chief tries to call him out on this. |
| 195 | -->'''White Knight:''' Why are you so upset?\ |
| 196 | '''Police Chief:''' Because ''[[BaitAndSwitch WE]]'' [[BaitAndSwitch are supposed to arrest those black people!]] You're not leaving any for the rest of us.\ |
| 197 | '''White Knight:''' ''[{{beat}})'' ...That's racist. |
| 198 | * In episode 20 of ''WebAnimation/IfTheEmperorHadATextToSpeechDevice'', "Kitten" suggests that people are afraid of the Salamanders because of their [[ScaryBlackMan black skin]], prompting the Emperor to accuse him of being racist and angrily strip his armor off telekinetically. Then it turns out that Kitten is himself black by 2nd millennium standards, but by the 41st millennium's his skin [[InTheFutureHumansWillBeOneRace just has a perfectly normal human tone]], unlike the Salamanders, who have ''literal'' pitch-black skin that looks like they were dipped in tar. |
| 199 | * Yahtzee Croshaw anticipated this response to his WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation review of ''VideoGame/FiftyCentBloodOnTheSand'', and spent a good minute of the review in question explaining in exhaustive detail that he is not, in fact, a racist, all while the words "UNFUNNY SOAPBOX BIT" scrolled behind the animation in the background. And then he finished the review with this line: |
| 200 | -->'''Yahtzee:''' Maybe if the world was a little less prejudiced and little more accepting then people might see that we all have the potential to be so much more and then we can all work together to build a better world for everyone. [[ImmediateSelfContradiction Not that they'd know anything about work]], the lazy [[CurseCutShort ni- *credit sequence*]]. |
| 201 | * One episode of ''WebAnimation/TheStrangerhood'' parodied black-and-white detective films, with everything changing color in shades of grey. Sam refers to the color scheme as black and white, which causes Chalmers, the African resident, to think Sam has issues. |
| 202 | [[/folder]] |
| 203 | |
| 204 | [[folder:Webcomics]] |
| 205 | * ''Webcomic/PennyAndAggie'', in the storyline appropriately titled "The Race Card". Aggie publicly accuses Penny of blowing off a blind date with Duane "because he's black." In fact, Penny had simply assumed his [[LoveLetterLunacy love letter]] came from another guy with the same vague description. |
| 206 | * This little gem from ''Webcomic/SaturdayMorningBreakfastCereal''. |
| 207 | -->'''Audience:''' The president is a racist! Bigot!\ |
| 208 | '''President:''' No! Wait! I said chiggers! Chiggers!\ |
| 209 | ''[beat]''\ |
| 210 | '''President:''' I hate black people and CHIGGERS! |
| 211 | * This is essentially the sum of Kris the Koala's character in ''Webcomic/AcornGrove'', to the point where other characters refer to him as "Kris the Racist Koala". |
| 212 | * ''Webcomic/HyperboleAndAHalf'': PlayedForLaughs when a young Allie, drugged out of her mind from dental surgery, tries in public to convince her mother that she's well enough to go to her friend's party. She gets louder, more incoherent, and more desperate as the mother keeps refusing, [[https://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/09/party.html until...]] |
| 213 | -->It was at that point that my mom noticed all the people glaring at her and realized that, from an outside perspective, it appeared as though she was not only refusing to let her poor, mentally disabled daughter go to a park and/or a birthday party, but was also ''taunting'' her child about her disability. |
| 214 | * In ''WebComic/TheLastDaysOfFOXHOUND'', Vulcan Raven [[http://www.doctorshrugs.com/foxhound/comic.php?id=225 assumed]] that the designation of the codename 'The Chinaman' to one of the members of [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty Dead Cell]] was the result of prejudice. [[http://www.doctorshrugs.com/foxhound/comic.php?id=226 It turns out]] that Chinaman had chosen this name for himself, a fact that Colonel Jackson had evidently needed to explain many times before. |
| 215 | -->'''Raven:''' What kind of fucked up codename system do you guys use?\ |
| 216 | '''Jackson:''' Look, ''he'' picked it, alright? I told him it was a bad idea. You don't know how many times I've had this exact conversation.\ |
| 217 | '''Raven:''' Why would anyone call himself his ethnicity?\ |
| 218 | '''Chinaman:''' I don't. I'm Vietnamese, thanks very much for asking.\ |
| 219 | ''[{{beat}}]''\ |
| 220 | '''Raven:''' It... makes even less sense that way.\ |
| 221 | '''Chinaman:''' Oh, well sorry my codename doesn't live up to your ''fascist'' standards!\ |
| 222 | '''Raven:''' What?\ |
| 223 | '''Chinaman:''' Yeah, sure, act confused. I know your type! You think I'm not good enough for special ops!\ |
| 224 | '''Jackson:''' [[{{Facepalm}} Oh, god, not this again.]] |
| 225 | * ''Webcomic/QueenOfTheDead'' by Creator/AGnosis: When Hades refuses to resurrect Demeter's [[DivineDate mortal lover]] on request, she accuses him of SlutShaming her. Hades' real concern is that the man would never truly fit in among the living again, but he's [[BrutalHonesty tactless enough]] to ask Demeter what would happen to the man when she gets tired of sleeping with him. |
| 226 | * ''Webcomic/AwkwardZombie'': In one of the ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' comics, Miranda's father proudly says that he genetically engineered his daughter to be "perfect." Jacob (who is black) pointedly says "so you made her ''white''." |
| 227 | -->'''Shepherd:''' Not cool, Miranda's Dad!\ |
| 228 | '''Miranda's Dad:''' No, that's not--I didn't-- ''[jumps out the window]'' |
| 229 | [[/folder]] |
| 230 | |
| 231 | [[folder:Web Original]] |
| 232 | * ''Clients from Hell'': |
| 233 | ** On one story, the designer accidentally printed a publication with a black cover when the client wanted a different one; the client asked if they could take the misprints but get a discount. Leading the designer to say to his supervisor "They (i.e. the client) want a discount because they (i.e. the documents) are black." The client in question was an African-American church group. Hilarity did not ensue. |
| 234 | ** A lighter example: one client complained about a presentation slide that depicted a black person on a phone, telling its designer to get rid of "those black things." Indignation ensued until the client remembered that the "black things" are called [=BlackBerries=]. |
| 235 | * Website/NotAlwaysRight |
| 236 | ** ''Not Always Workings'' has a bank customer ask to see a different teller, because she's deaf and can't lip-read through the teller's burka. The manager absolutely refuses to listen to the customer's explanation and ends up threatening to call the police on her. |
| 237 | ** ''Not Always Learning'' has [[https://notalwaysright.com/royal-colors/ a kindergartener]] explain to her teacher that she really doesn't like [[WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog Tiana]]'s color. The teacher is a bit worried before the girl elaborates that she really doesn't like green. |
| 238 | ** [[https://notalwaysright.com/out-of-africa/136590/ A white man asks a black woman: When do you plan to return to Africa?]] |
| 239 | ** [[https://notalwaysright.com/alls-well-that-ends-with-good-fried-rice/261258/ "In this city it is impossible to find a decent Chinese"]] |
| 240 | * The ''Fuck My Life'' website has a story about someone saying he "hates blacks and yellows". He was talking about colored candy, but the black person next to him on the bus misunderstood him. |
| 241 | * [[http://thehardtimes.net/hardstyle/anti-swastika-tattoo-just-swastika/ Parodied in this article]] from The Hard Times, in which the narrator claims that his various racist tattoos are actually anti-racist, but he keeps running out of money, so he can't finish them. |
| 242 | * One memetic Website/{{Tumblr}} post [[https://ghoulgoon.tumblr.com/post/140885202998 has a user describe]] a hypothetical ''Webcomic/ZenPencils'' comic he saw in a dream which featured a group of people in a waiting room. A receptionist calls in asking for a "Mr. Racist", and when one of them raises his hand, everyone else starts beating him up. The final panel is a close up of his files, revealing his full name as "Stopbeing Racist". |
| 243 | [[/folder]] |
| 244 | |
| 245 | [[folder:Web Videos]] |
| 246 | * WebVideo/RhettAndLink knew that their [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnOyMSEWNTs Red House Furniture Commercial]] would create controversy, but it has no touches of racism in it. In fact, it is the exact opposite. It may only include blacks and whites, but they made it very clear that persons of all races are welcome at The Red House. |
| 247 | * Creator/{{Tobuscus}} makes a RunningGag in his various vlogs and gaming commentaries of saying things that can be taken as racist (or sexist, species-ist, or anything else ending in -ist), noticing, and then doing a VerbalBackspace or trying to [[DiggingYourselfDeeper dig himself out]], frequently punctuated with ThatCameOutWrong and FreudianSlipperySlope. |
| 248 | * In the [[WebVideo/RoosterTeethShorts Rooster Teeth Short]] "Pongo", Joel is repeatedly being labeled racist when he comments on the new intern, who happens to be a puppet. |
| 249 | * In "Wolfenstein," an episode of ''WebVideo/HardlyWorking'', Owen excitedly shows Pat and Murph what he believes to be his grandfather's collection of ''VideoGame/Wolfenstein3D'' merchandise. Unfortunately, the "merchandise" is actually horrific Nazi propaganda, including a picture of Owen's grandfather with Adolf Hitler, incriminating documents that discuss a "final solution," and an autographed copy of ''Literature/MeinKampf'' (which Owen thinks is [[ComicallyMissingThePoint "German for Wolfenstein."]]). Owen cheerfully posts pictures of the items online, which inadvertently brings a huge group of Neo-Nazis to the office. |
| 250 | * The ''WebVideo/EpicRapBattlesOfHistory'' battle between Shaka Zulu and Julius Caesar had Caesar's final line of "But there's no use in murdering you and your heathen/You can grow my wheat for me after you're beaten", implying enslavement. Many viewers left comments finding that line racist given Shaka is black; it was more the fact that the Roman Empire enslaved ''everyone'' they conquered regardless of skin color. |
| 251 | * Invoked and exploited in the "Magic and Misfits" campaign of ''WebVideo/Dimension20'', when a younger student at a British school runs off to snitch on Jammer, an exchange student who happens to be black, for breaking a rule. Jammer stops him by reminding the kid that he's American, prompting him to [[{{Eagleland}} panic, assuming that he has a gun]]. |
| 252 | -->'''Jammer:''' Uh, yeah, I'm a black American. [[SarcasmMode I probably have a gun]].\ |
| 253 | '''Snitch Kid:''' It wasn't a race thing but then you said that like that! And now I believe it!\ |
| 254 | '''Jammer:''' Yeah, you tell all your friends that I have a gun, and then I'm gonna tell all your friends that you ''assumed'' because I'm a black American that I have a gun, and all your little friends are gonna think you're racist.\ |
| 255 | '''Snitch Kid:''' That's entrapment, no!\ |
| 256 | '''Jammer:''' You've been entrapped, little man! |
| 257 | [[/folder]] |
| 258 | |
| 259 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 260 | * In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'', Steve has his black lab partner over at the house and Francine makes her leave, explaining that she doesn't feel comfortable with "her kind" in the house. It turns out that she actually noticed that the girl in question was left-handed, [[spoiler:which turns out be a case of {{Boomerang Bigot}}ry]]. |
| 261 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'': In season 6, Ray loses [[spoiler: his right hand]]. [[MadScientist Krieger]] eventually builds him a new one... That has black skin. Throughout the season, Ray continuously voices his discontent with it. The others, particularly Lana (who is black) assume he's being racist, but he's actually upset about it being robotic. Eventually, Ray realizes what he sounded like and, horrified, rushes off to apologize to Lana... [[spoiler: [[BlackComedy And manages to cripple himself even further]]]]. |
| 262 | * The ''WesternAnimation/{{Brickleberry}}'' episode "Write 'Em Cowboy" has Steve become popular with the gay community due to his country songs containing unintentional innuendos alluding to gay sex. Steve isn't too pleased to find out exactly why his music is popular, but has a change of heart when a gay kid named Billy Black informs him that his music prevented him from committing suicide. Steve then sings a song dedicated to Billy Black, but his poor choice of lyrics gets him in trouble for sounding unintentionally racist. |
| 263 | -->'''Steve:''' I'm so sorry, Billy '''Black, people suck'''.\ |
| 264 | It's not your fault, Billy '''Black, people stink'''.\ |
| 265 | Don't worry, Billy '''Black, people are animals'''.\ |
| 266 | '''I'd like to tie them to my pickup truck and drag them down the road.''' |
| 267 | * Cleveland in ''WesternAnimation/TheClevelandShow'' is accused of being racist towards Mexicans from her neighbor Choni. |
| 268 | * In ''WesternAnimation/TheDragonPrince'', during book 1, chapter 6, Callum warns Ezran that Rayla can't be trusted, and Ezran immediately assumes that he is saying so because Rayla is an [[FantasticRacism elf]]. Callum's actual reason for distrusting Rayla was that he could tell that she was keeping secrets from them. |
| 269 | * ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': |
| 270 | ** Brian gets it from his father. It's a RunningGag, and in at least one episode the full attempts to prove "not racist" backfiring is shown. |
| 271 | ** "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS2E8IAmPeterHearmeRoar I Am Peter, Hear Me Roar]]" has Peter sent to sensitivity training and coming back as a StrawFeminist. At one point he gets up in front of a gathering of men and rants that it's their fault that there's so much crime and violence in the world. Unfortunately, said gathering happens to be the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Million_Man_March Million Man March]], where all the attendants are Black and are offended by Peter's remark. |
| 272 | ** When Peter tries smoking crack: |
| 273 | --->'''Brian:''' Where'd you get crack?\ |
| 274 | '''Peter:''' From Black's.\ |
| 275 | '''Brian:''' ''What?!''\ |
| 276 | '''Peter:''' Yeah, right behind Black's Hardware Store. There's a white guy sellin' it. |
| 277 | ** In "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS3E22WhenYouwishUponAWeinstein When You Wish Upon a Weinstein]]", Peter thinks that being Jewish automatically makes you intelligent (after befriending a stereotypically savvy Jewish financial planner) and takes Chris to get bar mitzvah'ed. When Lois goes to stop them, she talks about how wrong it is, but the people in the synagogue mistakenly think she's a self-hating Jew and chase the Griffins out. |
| 278 | ** In "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS4E23DeepThroats Deep Throats]]", Brian gets a job as a cab driver. When he sees Cleveland, he decides against picking him up to buy some milk, causing Cleveland to assume Brian didn't pick him up because he's black. At the end of the episode, Cleveland retaliates by smashing Brian's cab with a golf club. |
| 279 | ** In "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS14E9AShotInTheDark A Shot in the Dark]]", Peter unwittingly shoots Cleveland Jr. at night after mistaking him for a burglar, but people assume it was a hate crime. |
| 280 | ** Exaggerated in one episode where Peter wants Jerome to move out for the quite understandable reason that Jerome and Lois have a history, which they are constantly bringing up with Peter around. Peter resolves to chase him out by dressing as a ghost with a torch. |
| 281 | * ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'': |
| 282 | ** In "Racist Dawg", Hank is thought to be subconsciously Afrophobic after his dog attacks a black repairman. Him trying an online "are you racist" test and failing (due to being HopelessWithTech), or Ladybird snatching and destroying a doll of a black man (she sensed Hank was unconfortable playing with dolls, and Bobby was holding the white doll), don't help his reputation. However, in the end, it's revealed the dog attack stemmed from his innate dislike of repairmen, irrespective of ethnicity, when Ladybird attacks a white repairman. |
| 283 | ** In an early episode, Hank doesn't want to go to his new Laotian neighbor Kahn's barbecue because Kahn had been nothing but rude and insulting to Hank (calling him a "stupid redneck" and so on). Peggy demands that Hank go, otherwise they'll look like racists. Hank is frustrated, "I don't care about his race, he's a jerk. What kind of country is this where you can only hate a man if he's white?" |
| 284 | * At one point, in ''WesternAnimation/{{Metalocalypse}}'' the crew of Dethklok was accused of being racist, and so decided to hold a community outreach concert to prove otherwise. Unfortunately, due to Toki's revenge meddling, they joined his special "Special Persons Invites Club"[[note]][[FunWithAcronyms "spic" is a slur against Hispanic people]][[/note]], and showed up wearing his special club outfits (white robes and hoods), in front of a model of the club logo (a white letter T, for Toki). |
| 285 | * In the episode "Romeo Must Wed" from ''WesternAnimation/TheProudFamily'', Penny developed a crush on Kwok while rehearsing for their school's production of Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet. After a while, Kwok's parents, the Wongs, politely asked Penny's parents, Oscar and Trudy, that they not allow Penny and Kwok to see each other anymore. While [[MenUseViolenceWomenUseCommunication Trudy remained civil in her inquiry, Oscar immediately jumped to conclusions]], thinking that the Wongs didn't approve of their son having a relationship with Penny because she wasn't "good enough" for them. This prompted both Oscar and Mr. Wong to imply the other was a racist. It turned out the real reason was that Kwok had an arranged bride, who was coming to town for a visit. |
| 286 | * ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'': |
| 287 | ** A sketch has ComicBook/{{Batman}} and ComicBook/{{Robin}} playing checkers, with the latter stating his distaste for playing the black side. Unfortunately, [[ComicBook/CaptainAmerica the Falcon]] walks by just as Robin yells out "I hate black!", leading to some [[AngryBlackManStereotype awkwardness, to put it mildly]]. |
| 288 | ** Another sketch has a little boy getting amazed when a black stallion starts talking to him. The stallion, talking in an African-American accent, angrily accuses the boy of assuming he was dumb just because he was black. The boy tries to explain that a horse doesn't normally talk, but this just makes him angrier. This goes on with increasing intensity as everything the boy does, like mistaking another horse for the black stallion or offering to fry up a chicken he caught do nothing but enrage the black stallion who assumes literally everything the boy is doing is racially motivated. [[{{Hypocrite}} While constantly making racially motivated comments about the child's race]]. |
| 289 | ** When Speed Racer joins NASCAR, he's awoken in the middle of the night to find the other drivers have set up a burning cross in his yard. He bemoans that racism is still so prevalent, only for the drivers to sincerely assure him that this is a sign of ''welcome,'' not a threat (why they chose such an inflammatory symbol isn't relevant to the joke). A black driver then questions why ''he'' never received a "welcome cross." |
| 290 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': |
| 291 | ** White-on-white example: In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS6E19LisasWedding Lisa's Wedding]]", Homer and Bart horrify Lisa's British fiancé by accidentally setting the Union Jack on fire. |
| 292 | ** Another white-on-white example in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS15E6TodayIAmAClown Today I Am a Clown]]", after Krusty the Clown learns that he never had his bar mitzvah (actually a subversion, in that the victim really does have negative attitudes): |
| 293 | --->'''Krusty:''' I thought I was a self-hating Jew, but it turns out I'm just a plain anti-Semite.\ |
| 294 | '''Rainier Wolfcastle:''' ''[sympathetically]'' We have so much to discuss...\ |
| 295 | ''[[[YourApprovalFillsMeWithShame Krusty groans]]]'' |
| 296 | ** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E13SimpsoncalifragilisticexpialaAnnoyedGruntcious Simpsoncalifragilisticexpiala(Annoyed Grunt)cious]]", Krusty hosts a show called [[XtremeKoolLetterz "Krusty's Komedy Klassics"]], which has [[FunWithAcronyms the show's initials in large white letters in the background]], at the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Theater Apollo Theater]] in Harlem. Cue ProducePelting from the offended crowd. |
| 297 | --->'''Krusty:''' KKK? That's not good! |
| 298 | ** From "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS10E23ThirtyMinutesOverTokyo Thirty Minutes over Tokyo]]", while the family is on the plane to Japan: |
| 299 | --->'''Homer:''' [[PeopleZoo If we wanted to see Japanese people, we could have gone to the zoo.]]\ |
| 300 | '''Marge:''' ''Homer!''\ |
| 301 | '''Homer:''' What? The guy who washes the elephants is Japanese! His name is Takashi. He's in my book club! |
| 302 | * Ends up being the punchline of one ''WesternAnimation/SmilingFriends'' episode; while everyone's getting ready for the office Halloween party Charlie states that he doesn't wear costumes for fear of ending up in this trope. The episode then revolves around Pim being terrorized by a [[NatureSpirit forest demon]] with tree bark for skin, who chases him all the way back to the office. When the two end up in the middle of the party, the demon is accused of wearing {{blackface}} in spite of him SuddenlySpeaking to explain this is his ''actual skin color'', [[DisproportionateRetribution and is beaten to death and eviscerated by the partygoers]]. [[BrickJoke Charlie then calmly points out this is exactly why he doesn't dress up.]] |
| 303 | * ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': |
| 304 | ** Randy Marsh used the n-word on television in "With Apologies to Jesse Jackson", thinking it was the answer to a ''Series/WheelOfFortune'' bonus puzzle. It didn't help that the topic was "People Who Annoy You," and currently the parts he had solved spelled out [=N_GGERS=]. Even the black audience members came to the same conclusion. To anyone wondering, the right answer was Naggers. Stan later defends him saying his father isn't racist, just stupid. |
| 305 | ** This trope was played with (somehow) in "There Goes the Neighborhood", where the townsfolk get upset at the town being filled with... rich people (all of whom happen to be black). They try several things that could be seen as racist (burning "lowercase [=Ts=]" for "Time to leave", dressing like "ghosts" that more than resemble KKK members), but the "richers" all [[StrangeMindsThinkAlike see these as exactly what they were intended to be]]. At the end of the episode, after the rich people have left, Mr. Garrison suggests sell all of the rich people's houses and become rich themselves. When Jimbo and Randy point out that means there would still be rich people in town and they would become what they hate, Mr. Garrison remarks "Well, at least we got rid of those damn [[CurseCutShort ni-" *episode ends*]] |
| 306 | ** At the end of "Summer Sucks", an attempt to make the world's biggest ash-snake covers everyone with soot. Chef drives up and, assuming they're in {{blackface}}, tells them all to line up for an ass-kicking. |
| 307 | ** In "Cartman's Silly Hate Crime 2000", Cartman is sent to prison for committing a hate crime when he threw a rock at Token for completely unrelated, but still stupid, reasons. |
| 308 | ** And there's "Chef Goes Nanners" where Chef lobbies to have the town's flag changed, as it depicts four white men hanging a black man. To Chef's indignation, Stan and Kyle claim to not see what the big deal is. He's completely convinced that they're racists... until he realizes that they were so entirely ''not'' racist that they didn't think of the men on the flag as four white men hanging a black man, [[ChildrenAreInnocent but merely as four men hanging another man]]. Jimbo and Ned, who aren't racist but are against having the flag changed for the sake of preserving history, sneak into a KKK meeting disguised as Klan members [[UnwantedAssistance in order to convince them to switch sides]], [[HitlerAteSugar since they know nobody will vote for whichever side the KKK supports]] (in fact that's the argument they used, and the KKK agreed with them). When they sneak out of the meeting, they remove their hoods, only for Chef to drive by at that exact moment. |
| 309 | ** In "La Petit Tourette", Kyle is accused of not believing that Tourette's Syndrome is real and is forced to meet various people with the condition. The adults all ignore Kyle's protests that he ''does'' believe in the condition; he just doesn't believe Cartman's claim that ''he'' has Tourette's (Cartman is just using the disease as an excuse to say whatever insult he wants). |
| 310 | ** In "The Big Fix" it's revealed that [[TokenMinority Token Black]] was named ''Tolkien'' all along, and apparently [[ItSeemedTrivial everyone in South Park knew except Stan and Randy]]. Stan goes to his doctor seeking advice, only for him to [[BlamedForBeingRailroaded angrily gaslight Stan and the audience]] over the mistake. |
| 311 | * ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'': In the episode "Surviving the Spiderbites", Star invites the Spiderbite royal family to Mewni in the hopes that they will make an alliance with Eclipsa, treating them to refreshments, some abstract art and an elaborate monster dance, all of which they hate. Star assumes that they, like most other Mewmans, hate monsters and that is the reason for their disapproval. She's immediately proven wrong when Princess Penelope's monster boyfriend shows up and is welcomed warmly by her parents. As it turns out their problem wasn't with monsters; all of the stuff Star had shown them was associated with Globgor, who, among various other atrocities, apparently ate Shastacan, Queen Spiderbite's great-uncle several times removed. Star apparently didn't do any research beforehand. |
| 312 | * An episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Stripperella}}'': A female supervillain called "The Bridesmaid", driven mad by winding up "always a bridesmaid, never a bride," kidnaps several bridegrooms and announces her intention to murder them all. She points her gun at one of the grooms and tells him that he will die first -- and [[BlackDudeDiesFirst because this particular groom happens to be African-American, he accuses her of racism for it]]. The Bridesmaid concedes the point and opts to start with one of the other grooms -- but they all catch on and reveal to her their status as members of "oppressed" groups so that the Bridesmaid will not be able to kill any of them either (including one groom who conveniently [[SarcasmMode "remembers"]] that he has a [[SuddenlyEthnicity "Native American grandparent"]]). |
| 313 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBros'': |
| 314 | ** The Alchemist, remarking upon Jefferson Twilights' outfit, says "black is slimming". Cue a stony-faced expression from the African-American Jefferson. |
| 315 | ** A later episode had Dermott helping Dean seduce Triana. He tells Dean to put on a ghost costume (actually a KKK outfit) because goths love ghosts, and write "TRIANA" on her lawn with wooden boards. When the T is accidentally set aflame, her stepfather comes out with a shotgun, accusing him of being a racist bastard. The stepfather himself is AmbiguouslyBrown. |
| 316 | [[/folder]] |
| 317 |
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