Classic Moments In Black Cinema: Black Acting School in "Hollywood Shuffle"

When Robert Townsend’s Hollywood Shuffle was released in 1987, it was a hard time for African-American actors in Tinseltown.

The blaxploitation genre of films had largely died out and were largely looked down upon due to their depictions of African-Americans. However, the types of roles that African-Americans were getting in the post-blaxploitation era of the early 80s, were just as bad. Robert Guilliame was still playing a servant in “Benson.” Nell Carter was a housekeeper in “Gimme A Break.”

In Shuffle, Townsend brilliantly skewered Hollywood’s treatment of African-American actors, most notably in the “Black Acting School” segment of the film.