Dennis Quaid talks about his role in film The Express (Ernie Davis Story).

I’m watching Ellen interview Dennis Quaid on today’s (Tues 10/14) show.  He’s promoting the film “The Express” (Ernie Davis story).  I’m going to quote a segment of the interview and ask if you were a little bothered by a comment he made.

Ellen:
So let’s talk about the film “The Express.”  Tell people what it’s about.

Dennis:
It’s the Ernie Davis story.  Ernie Davis is the first African-American athlete to win the Heisman trophy back in ’59, and I play his coach who was Ben Schwartzwalder who was one of those old school tough as nails.  You might say he’s a meanie but he’s not, kind of a guy. Uh, he actually may have been (pauses), but by today’s standards you may call him a racist but back then he was just part of the status quo.  and uh it’s a very inspiring story of Ernie Davis and the relationship he had between his coach.  we basically turn out to be father and son in the end…

It’s the part I highlighted above that made me literally push the pause button and rewind so I could hear the entire comment.  As a person of color, do you find it bothersome when a white person makes a statement like that?  It’s almost like it was ok to be racist back then, but not now.

What do you think?

The rest of his appearance on Ellen was fun.  Oprah had him wear a mic in his ear and he went into Starbucks and repeated random stuff that Ellen told him to say.  Totally Ellen, and totally funny.

So back to my serious point.  I’d love to hear your comments.