Marlon Wayans became the latest comedian to publicly react to Katt Williams’s viral Club Shay Shay interview. In particular, Wayans addressed the heated Williams-spawned conversations surrounding Black men wearing dresses in movies and television shows.
“I’m here to get the best nutrients out of life and out of an experience. And that’s what we need to celebrate more,” Marlon Wayans stated on the Big Boy’s Neighborhood radio show.
The 51-year-old stand-up comic continued, “I’m tired of the rhetoric of – ‘You sell in Hollywood cause you wore a dress.’ Negro, I wore a dress. It’s called White Chicks. You know what we did? We did a classic.”
Marlon Wayans then began mentioning legendary Caucasian actors like Robin Williams and Tom Hanks taking on roles that required them to put on women’s attire. In his view, some people hold those entertainers to a different standard than African-American stars.
Wayans also said, “Only Black people sit here and go, ‘Man, our brothers wearing dresses.’ So when white people wear dresses, when Robin Williams wears a dress in Mrs. Doubtfire, he’s brilliant. When Tom Hanks wears a dress in Bosom Buddies, he’s brilliant. When Dustin Hoffman wears a dress in Tootsie, he wins an Oscar.”
The Hollywood veteran then told Big Boy, “Black people, as soon as we put on a dress, we start tearing each other down. This is art and this is comedy. You think I’m gonna tear down Flip Wilson? You think I’m gonna tear down Tyler Perry? I’m not gonna tear down any of these brothers. It’s comedy and we should embrace our comedy, all of it.”
White Chicks features Marlon Wayans and his brother, Shawn Wayans, portraying FBI agents working undercover as wealthy, white socialites named Tiffany Wilson and Brittany Wilson. The Keenen Ivory Wayans-directed comedy grossed $113 million at the global box office.