‘A major mistake’: David Byrne regrets Talking Heads’ Blackface, Brownface skit

Former Talking Heads frontman David Byrne has apologized for wearing brownface and blackface in a 1980s comedy skit. The musician took to Twitter on Tuesday to issue the apology after a journalist pointed out Byrne’s participation in the racist sketch to promote the band’s 1985 concert film, “Stop Making Sense.” In it, he appears as a number of reporters, some of whom were people of color, while interviewing himself.

“I’d just about forgotten about this skit, and I’m grateful that it has been brought to my attention,” Byrne, 68, wrote in the thread. “To watch myself in the various characters, including Black and Brown face, I acknowledge it was a major mistake in judgment that showed a lack of real understanding. It’s like looking in a mirror and seeing someone else – you’re not, or were not, the person you thought you were.”

Except the mercurial singer, songwriter and guitarist was all those people in the skit. Byrne, whose hits include “Psycho Killer” and “Burning Down the House,” is the latest artist to be called out for racial insensitivity. After the events following the death of George Floyd in May, the Dixie Chicks and Lady Antebellum changed their names to distance themselves from their monikers’ slavery-era undertones.

Several classic TV series pulled episodes that featured blackface. Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively issued an apology for getting married on a former plantation. And actors have stepped away from roles that would be more authentic if played by people of color or LGBTQ+ individuals.

“We have huge blind spots about ourselves – well, I certainly do,” Byrne said. “I’d like to think I am beyond making mistakes like this, but clearly at the time I was not. Like I say at the end of our Broadway show ‘American Utopia,’ ‘I need to change, too’ … and I believe I have changed since then.”

“One hopes that folks have the grace and understanding to allow that someone like me, anyone really, can grow and change, and that the past can be examined with honesty and accountability,” he wrote.

A filmed version of “David Byrne’s American Utopia” was directed by Spike Lee and will be released by HBO. It is set to open the virtual-hybrid Toronto Film Festival this month.