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Despite what the referenced article says, Jon Hamm was not in blackface (no black makeup) and was clearly not portraying a black character. If you watch the episode, that's actually the whole point of the sketch - that the black character was cultured and intelligent while the white character was a hick with stereotypical "black" qualities. Tracy Morgan's character even calls Jon Hamm's character a "cracker," a term applied to white people. Yes, you have a reference for the blackface thing, but just because an LA Times article says something doesn't make it true... 63.246.93.243 (talk) 05:01, 28 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Not a big problem, just that the end of the article stated that the episode featured Jon Hamm in blackface, which is clearly not the case (despite the referenced LA Times article). I've removed the mention of blackface in the interest of "being bold." Cheers. 63.246.93.243 (talk) 14:41, 28 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]
That article also has a picture of the sketch where he's very clearly not in blackface. Just because a source claims it doesn't mean the source is right. No original research doesn't mean we completely ignore common sense. Whether or not the sketch is offensive or racist isn't for us to say (although we can have our opinions), but blackface is a style of makeup, and the article doesn't support the claim due to the picture. PaulGS (talk) 08:07, 13 August 2016 (UTC)[reply]
As often with an extremely sophisticated, postmodern, self-aware show like "30 Rock," the humor and the irony have multiple layers and defy simple categorizations.
1. The premise of the sketch-within-the-show, as explained by Kenneth, is that "Alfie & Abner," a show about two black characters, had one black and one white actor, "Because they [NBC] thought two black people on the same show would make the audience nervous."
2. While Jon Hamm is not in anything approaching full blackface, he is made up in what looks like a parody of blackface: He has a small amount of dark makeup smeared on his cheeks, and he's wearing an "afro" wig.
3. Note also that "30 Rock" had previously flouted the present-day convention against using blackface, much more strongly, in the 3rd season episode, "Believe in the Stars," in which Jane Krakowski is made up realistically to look like a teenaged Michael Jackson, and briefly imitates Jackson singing "Ease on Down the Road." The Wikipedia page on that episode makes no mention of any controversy caused thereby, nor could I find any complaints about it on IMdb.
4. Yes, Tracy Morgan's character (Actor-Playing-Alfie) calls Jon Hamm's character (Actor-Playing-Abner) a "cracker," but the character of Abner is still meant to be black.
5. The problem with the article isn't its description of the blackface per se; the problem is the choice to characterize that aspect of the episode as "controversial." The referenced LA Times article mentions nothing except a very small number of social media posts. How, exactly, does that make something "controversial"? I don't know if Wikipedia has an explicit standard on this, but for something as important as (implied) racially-offensive content in a major network's TV show, the standard should be something higher than a few tweets or chat-room comments. Did the NAACP or the SPLC, or any other civil rights organization, complain about Jon Hamm's makeup? Nothing of the kind is mentioned. If a few tweets equal a "controversy," then pretty much every Wikipedia article should have a "Controversy" section.
6. I suggest editing this article to remove the mention of a "controversy"--a description not even used by the source article from the LA Times.Apruzan (talk) 05:57, 1 April 2017 (UTC)[reply]
So in the East Coast version, one of the final shots (just after Paul McCartney walks off camera) is Alec Baldwin and Scott Adsit suddenly making out vigorously. So... was that scripted or was it improv? Gotta say, if it was improv, whoever didn't start it certainly stepped up! Either way, it was freaking hilarious! 107.9.45.143 (talk) 02:23, 9 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]
