Dan Aykroyd.Photo:Noam Galai/Getty, Courtesy Everett Collection
Noam Galai/Getty, Courtesy Everett Collection
Dan Aykroydis looking back on what would now be considered controversial: his Blackface moment inTrading Places.
“I was in Blackface in that film and I probably couldn’t get away with it now,” Aykroyd, 70, recently toldThe Daily Beast.
TheGhostbustersandSaturday Night Livestar indicated that a Hollywood makeup techniquerooted in racismwould not be considered acceptable today: “I probably wouldn’t choose to do a Blackface part, nor would I be allowed to do it."
“I probably wouldn’t be allowed to do a Jamaican accent, white face or Black,” he added.
Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy in Trading Places.Photo courtesy Paramount
“Eddie and I were improvising there,” Aykroyd said, remembering the scene. “Eddie is a Black man and his entourage were all Black people, and I don’t think they batted an eye. There was no objection then; nobody said anything. It was just a good comic beat that was truthful to the story.”
The actor continued, “In these days we’re living in, all that’s out the window. I would be hard-pressed to do an English accent and get away with it. They’d say, ‘Oh, you’re not English, you can’t do it.’ ”
Aykroyd further reflected onTrading Places’ legacy 40 years later, calling the movie “right up there withIt’s a Wonderful LifeorA Christmas Story” as a winter holiday favorite.
Trading Places
He also confessed to eating real salmon covered in hair during a memorablesceneas a bearded Santa. “Of course I ate the salmon through the beard,” he told The Daily Beast. “Absolutely. Take after take, I can tell you.”
In 2021, Aykroyd reflected on sensitivity in the comedy world today withThe Hollywood Reporter. “You don’t have to go pulling any divisive cards to get a laugh,” he said. “There is so much in the world to comment on that is outside the realm of offensiveness. As a writer, you can go to other areas and have successful creative endeavors.
“Who can be the subject of an impression today?” he continued. “That’s an area of discussion. Can I do my James Brown imitation? He was one of my best friends. I do his voice pretty good. But maybe I shouldn’t anymore.”
Dan Aykroyd in 2019.Jean Baptiste Lacroix/WireImage
Jean Baptiste Lacroix/WireImage
source: people.com
