Jamie Foxx NAACP Comment 'Black People Most Talented' Under Fire (WATCH VIDEO)
Actor Jamie Foxx is under fire for a controversial remark he made during his acceptance speech at the 44thannual NAACP Image Awards on Feb. 1.
Foxx, 45, got on stage to accept his Entertainer of the Year award and began his speech with an eyebrow-raising statement: "Black people are the most talented people in the world," he said.
"I ... it's ... I can't explain it," the Oscar winner continued at the ceremony. "You can't sit in this room and not watch Gladys Knight sing and go like, 'Golly, what in the world?' "
Foxx then mentioned acting legends Harry Belafonte and Sidney Poitier in his closing remarks. The speech was lauded and called "moving" on Hollywood.com the following day but not all critics agreed with that opinion.
NewsBusters, a website that is dedicated to "exposing and combating liberal media bias," reportedly wrote: "Can you imagine the heat a white actor would get if he said at a nationally televised awards ceremony, 'White people are the most talented people in the world?' Probably be the end of his or her career."
In the cover story for VIBE's December/January issue, Foxx made controversial statements when he said "every single thing in my life is built around race."
"As black folks we're always sensitive," Foxx told VIBE in a roundtable discussion interview with his Django Unchained co-stars Kerry Washington and Leonardo DiCaprio. "As a black person it's always racial. I come into this place to do a photo shoot and they got Ritz crackers and cheese, I'll be like, 'Ain't this a b*tch. Y'all didn't know black people was coming? What's with all this white sh*t?'
"By the same token, if there is fried chicken and watermelon, I'll say 'Ain't this a b*tch' ... so, no matter what we do as black people it's always gonna be that."
Django Unchained is an action western starring Foxx, Christopher Waltz, Caprio, Washington and Samuel L. Jackson. It received five Oscar nominations and grossed $187.1 million since it opened on Christmas Day, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Watch Foxx deliver his acceptance speech at the NAACP Image awards in the video below.
