Actor Morgan Freeman is taking issue with Black History Month.
In an interview with The Sunday Times, Freeman said there are “two things I can say publicly that I do not like.”
The first, he explained, is Black History Month.
“Black History Month is an insult,” he said, adding, “You’re going to relegate my history to a month?”
February has been designated Black History Month.
As History.com notes, “Also known as African American History Month, the event grew out of ‘Negro History Week,’ the brainchild of noted historian Carter G. Woodson and other prominent African Americans. Since 1976, every U.S. president has officially designated the month of February as Black History Month.”
“Other countries around the world, including Canada and the United Kingdom, also devote a month to celebrating Black history,” it added.
The second term Freeman has an issue with is African American.
🔺EXCLUSIVE: In a rare interview, Morgan Freeman reveals why he has long been envious of Denzel Washington. He reflects on life, Sidney Poitier — and why Black History Month is an insulthttps://t.co/8a69Ob59nx
— The Times and The Sunday Times (@thetimes) April 16, 2023
He elaborated:
“I don’t subscribe to that title. 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?”
Freeman added, “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.”
He also shared he is in “total agreement” with Denzel Washington’s statement that “I’m very proud to be Black, but Black is not all I am.”
Freeman said, “Yes, exactly. I’m in total agreement. You can’t define me that way.”
He also discussed the increased representation in Hollywood, saying, “When I was growing up there was no ‘me’ in the movies. If there was a black man in a movie he was funny. Until Sidney Poitier came and gave young people like me the idea that, ‘OK, yes, I can do that.’”
“Everyone. LGBTQ, Asians, Black, white, interracial marriages, interracial relationships. All represented. You see them all on screen now and that is a huge jump,” he added.
Freeman has previously dismissed the idea of Black History Month. In a 2005 interview with CBS News’ “60 Minutes,” he insisted Black History Month is ‘”ridiculous.”
“I don’t want a Black History Month. Black history is American history,” he said.