The yearly celebration of black history, according to Morgan Freeman, reportedly relegates his ancestry to just four weeks, which he calls a “insult.”
During a recent interview with the Sunday Times, Freeman, 85, made the unusual racial comment.
“Black History Month is an insult. You’re going to relegate my history to a month?” Freeman said.
Freeman, who played Nelson Mandela in Clint Eastwood’s 2009 movie Invictus, criticized the term “African-American” as well.
Freeman pointed out that some American groups proudly state the country that their ancestors came from, with several cities still having significant Italian- and Irish-American populations.
“Black people have had different titles all the way back to the n-word and I do not know how these things get such a grip, but everyone uses ‘African-American’.What does it really mean? Most black people in this part of the world are mongrels. And you say Africa as if it’s a country when it’s a continent, like Europe.” Freeman continued.
In the UK and the US, Black History Month is honored in February and October respectively.
Gerald Ford, a former American president, introduced the occasion in 1976.
Freeman has always questioned if the backers of the holiday can provide a complete explanation for history spanning countless years.
The actor expressed the same views about the subject in a 2005 interview with CBS’ Mike Wallace.
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