George Takei Clarence Thomas is a 'clown in blackface,' doesn't belong on Supreme Court
George Takei: Clarence Thomas is a 'clown in blackface,' doesn't belong on Supreme Court Star Trek actor and gay rights activist George Takei ripped Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas as a " clown in blackface "
George Takei apologizes for calling Clarence Thomas ‘a clown in blackface’
LOS ANGELES — Star Trek actor and social media darling George Takei apologized this week for calling African-American Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas “a clown in blackface.”
“I owe an apology. On the eve of this Independence Day, I have a renewed sense of what this country stands for, and how I personally could help achieve it,” the 78-year-old wrote to his over 8 million Facebook followers.
The actor made his controversial statement to Phoenix Fox station KSAZ while discussing Thomas’ dissent of the recent same-sex marriage ruling. The justice argued that slaves and Americans held in internment camps “did not lose their dignity” at the hands of the government and neither did gay couples who were barred from being legally wed.
Takei, himself a WWII Japanese internment camp survivor, initially defended his characterization of Thomas.
“I feel Justice Thomas has abdicated and abandoned his African-American heritage by claiming slavery did not strip dignity from human beings. He made a similar remark about the Japanese-American internment, of which I am a survivor,” he wrote in an earlier Facebook post. “A sitting justice of the Supreme Court ought to know better.”
Takei’s apology came after widespread criticism of his remarks.
“I am reminded, especially on this July 4th holiday, that though we have the freedom to speak our minds, we must use that freedom judiciously,” Takei wrote Friday. “Each of us, as humans, have hot-button topics that can set-us off, and Justice Thomas had hit mine, that is clear.”
George Takei: Clarence Thomas is a 'clown in blackface,' doesn't belong on Supreme Court Star Trek actor and gay rights activist George Takei ripped Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas as a " clown in blackface "
George Takei apologizes for calling Clarence Thomas ‘a clown in blackface’
LOS ANGELES — Star Trek actor and social media darling George Takei apologized this week for calling African-American Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas “a clown in blackface.”
“I owe an apology. On the eve of this Independence Day, I have a renewed sense of what this country stands for, and how I personally could help achieve it,” the 78-year-old wrote to his over 8 million Facebook followers.
The actor made his controversial statement to Phoenix Fox station KSAZ while discussing Thomas’ dissent of the recent same-sex marriage ruling. The justice argued that slaves and Americans held in internment camps “did not lose their dignity” at the hands of the government and neither did gay couples who were barred from being legally wed.
Takei, himself a WWII Japanese internment camp survivor, initially defended his characterization of Thomas.
“I feel Justice Thomas has abdicated and abandoned his African-American heritage by claiming slavery did not strip dignity from human beings. He made a similar remark about the Japanese-American internment, of which I am a survivor,” he wrote in an earlier Facebook post. “A sitting justice of the Supreme Court ought to know better.”
Takei’s apology came after widespread criticism of his remarks.
“I am reminded, especially on this July 4th holiday, that though we have the freedom to speak our minds, we must use that freedom judiciously,” Takei wrote Friday. “Each of us, as humans, have hot-button topics that can set-us off, and Justice Thomas had hit mine, that is clear.”
