Legendary actor Billy Dee Williams seems not to be bothered by the racist action of blackface. The 87-year-old thespian joined Bill Maher on his podcast, “Club Random,” where he commented on the 1965 film version of Shakespeare’s “Othello” where actor Laurence Olivier played the title character, a Moor–-a Black man. So he did so in blackface.

Williams said, “When [Olivier] did ‘Othello,’ I fell out laughing. He stuck his ass out and walked around with his ass because Black people are supposed to have big asses.” Yes, Mr. Williams–this is called a racist trope.

Maher immediately tried to dial it back, calling blackface problematic, and Williams said, “I thought it was hysterical. I loved it. I love that kind of stuff.”

Maher continued to challenge Williams, saying that blackface isn’t allowed. Williams said, “Why not? You should do it,” Williams exclaimed. "If you’re an actor, you should do anything you want to do.”

Sure…but blackface is off-limits. Not according to Billy Dee Williams. Maher tried to get the “Star Wars” star to see that even in his heyday, he shouldn’t have been able to play the roles he had, insinuating that the Black actor’s career navigated around racism. Williams played Lando Calrissian in multiple Star Wars films: 1980’s “The Empire Strikes Back,” 1983’s “Return of the Jedi,” and 2019’s “Rise of Skywalker.” He also appeared in 1989’s Batman, to name a few of his larger roles.

Williams doubled down on his unsavory opinion, saying, “The point is that you don’t go through life feeling like, ‘I’m a victim. I refuse to go through life saying to the world, ‘I’m pissed off.’ I’m not gonna be pissed off 24 hours a day.”

If Black people are going to be pissed about anything, let it be blackface. This practice has a racist history in the Jim Crow South and beyond that dehumanizes Black people, creates offensive characterizations around Black culture, and is just flat-out insulting. Ovier’s Othello exceeded this list when he donned blackface for the role.