Comment by freedomben
6 days ago
I think you're probably right wrt flattery of southern accent, but for white people imitated black accents I have to disagree. Growing up one of my friend idolized Will Smith and thought he was the most badass dude on the planet. He would often quote movie lines from him with the accent, and it was 100% a form of flattery. It is also very common for white people to rap along with black artists using the same accent, and it's because they love the song and the style. Nowadays most parents will immediately try to silence their kids for doing that in public, and anyone older than about 12 is now terrified of doing that, so it's quite possible things have changed.
That said, I would agree that the majority of people doing accents are likely to be mocking. I'm not sure how to prevent throwing the baby out with the bath water though.
Will Smith has never had a stereotypical “black accent”. (I’m Black by the way). But do you notice that no matter how accepted an actor is in the Black community or even the Black hip hop community - ie Eminem - that they never say “the N word” in public or in their lyrics? Of course in movies you will hear it.
As an aside, I do think Robert Downey Jr. may be the last White guy who can wear Black face in a movie without getting canceled.