Talk:Reno Wilson

The fact that Reno Wilson made all of Frenzy's dialog without being filtered or anything, (besides the Oh shi-)...Reno's page or Frenzy's? --Terrocon Blot 18:19, 30 August 2007 (UTC)

I say both. --Andrusi 01:56, 31 August 2007 (UTC)

Self-Offense?

There's a note that "Apparently, as Mudflap, he was horrendously offensive to himself. That surprised him." However, all of his quotes in the cited article make it sound like he wasn't offended at all and didn't see Mudflap's portrayal as being worth the fuss. I think there's an incongruity here. - Caswin 21:19, 26 April 2012 (EDT)

The point is that people claimed his portrayal was offensive to black people, which surprised him. And since he himself is black, he was apparently offensive to himself. -- Dark T Zeratul 21:48, 26 April 2012 (EDT)

If it's supposed to be a joke, it doesn't read like one. I've never heard anyone, including the article, try to say that all black people were offended by his character... or is it a joke? I'm still not sure that I follow. - Caswin 22:52, 26 April 2012 (EDT)

One of the widespread reactions to ROTF was that people thought Skids and Mudflap were racist caricatures of black people. Did you read the article linked to in the citation? It explains the note. --abates 23:14, 26 April 2012 (EDT)

I did, and I know that many people (enough to merit writing an article on the subject on the widespread reaction) were offended by their appearance. However, the note simply says, "as Mudflap, he was horrendously offensive to himself. That surprised him." If I'm reading Dark T Zeratul correctly, it sounds like it's supposed to make fun of the controversy, but even then, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. - Caswin 23:24, 26 April 2012 (EDT)

People thought Mudflap was offensive to black people, by which logic Reno Wilson should have been offended by his own character. He was surprised by this as he didn't regard Mudflap as a black stereotype. The note is employing sarcasm as a means of pointing this out. --abates 23:35, 26 April 2012 (EDT)

The problem is that I keep hearing that "people thought Mudflap was offensive to black people," and that the joke is that that must mean (if all black people are offended by Mudflap) that Wilson himself is offended by Mudflap. However, the article never says that. It says that many viewers were offended, which they were. (I would guess that that goes for many races, black or white, but I can't back that up.) It barely mentions race at all, least of all as an absolute, until it mentions the perceived stereotypes or the fact that Wilson himself is black. Even with that explanation -- which, again, isn't reflected in the article in the first place -- now it just sounds to me like it's trying to be sarcastic about a strawman. - Caswin 23:48, 26 April 2012 (EDT)

We could link to some other articles with people calling them racist stereotypes? --abates 00:41, 27 April 2012 (EDT)

I don't see why you would. The note is based on the idea that "apparently", all black people are ("horrendously") offended by Mudflap, which I've never heard anywhere, including the article. Other articles with people calling him a racist stereotype wouldn't do anything to substantiate that, and without that premise, it doesn't work at all. Besides that, it isn't very clear or intuitive. I think that it would be better just to delete it. - Caswin 00:55, 27 April 2012 (EDT)

I'm not sure why one person's anecdotal evidence is trumping everyone else's. --ItsWalky 21:33, 12 May 2012 (EDT)

I'm not sure I follow you. Who's using anecdotal evidence? (It isn't me, is it? The short version is, the note is inaccurate, even as a joke, and the linked article doesn't actually back it up.) - Caswin 21:41, 12 May 2012 (EDT)