Black people have a pretty interesting habit of claiming white people who show extra love to the collective of blacks in America. The white person in question usually doesn’t even have to be famous. Think about how many times the “cool white guy” gets tons of love from black women, whether he is a star or commoner. The fellas show him love, too if he really is a cool dud. When someone questions how he became so popular with their crew, they say “nah, he’s cool with us.” Here are some white men and women with a nearly universal affinity for black culture.
Bill Clinton
Willy is typically #1 on black people’s lists of their favorite white people. He took a serious hit when he was running around America bad mouthing then presidential candidate, Senator Barack Obama, but he’s done a decent job of re-working his image in the black community. Many blacks remember when tricky package Bill was in the White House and they felt their quality of life was better and their pockets were a little bit fatter. Not to mention Bill Clinton shocked the world when he went on the Arsenio Hall show and played the saxophone. (Cool points 101.) Bill Clinton was termed the first black president before we actually had a black president, so its safe to say Bill gets love from Black America.
Madonna
Remember when Madonna had Leon in her “Like a Prayer” video – whoooo talk about a meteoric rise with folks of color. From dating Tupac Shakur to Dennis Rodman to Prince, Madonna was expressing her love for the brothers in a very real and public way. She made great music and we love to dance, so it was a match made in heaven. Madonna seemed to have lost favor with black folks in recent years, but then she hit a home run — she spoke at Michael Jackson’s funeral. That solidified her place in the hearts of black people from Compton to Alaska.
Al Pacino
Where would the hip-hop world be without Scarface or the Godfather trilogy? Pacino is an actor we go to when we want to be compassionate, when we want to be a bad boys, with a little “say hello to my little friend.” We’ve watched all his movies, fallen in love with him as an actor and according to the ladies he’s a pretty good-looking older guy. Still a great role model. Pacino makes the list because without him playing the role of Tony Montana we wouldn’t have had a bunch of young boys screaming “The world is mine chico!” while trying to get their whole neighborhood hooked on substances. I’m joking — that was a music video I was describing. He’s still the man! Long live Pacino!
Eminem
This guy ends up in most people’s top five emcees of all time list, dead or alive. Impressive for a Caucasian. The self-proclaimed “trailer park trash” rapper has been a hip-hop mainstay since he jumped on the scene in the late ’90s. He did catch some flack for that “black b-word” freestyle years ago, but I think MOST people are pretty much over it. Not since Elvis has a white boy gotten so much love for mastering black music.
George Clooney
I hate to sound superficial, but something tells me ladies don’t like George Clooney because he’s some amazing philanthropist. Nope, it’s all about the man’s looks and apparently he holds a pretty decent conversation and that’s always a plus. But for the fellas Clooney in the “Oceans” film franchise earned him some James Bond-type cool points. Which says a lot because the past few Bond films sucked so we needed someone to fill that void. Clooney does it admirably.
Brangelina
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie might be the most popular married couple that are not married. Now that’s some black ish. Just kidding! Angelina Jolie is a favorite among black men who like lips on white girls and appreciate how she was freaking off with Billy Bob Thornton in that limo on the way to an awards show. Sisters have had a thing for Pitt since The early 90’s, maybe it’s because he never seems to age or because he stays in better shape than most of their boyfriends. And he dated Robin Givens. Whatever the case, they’re into him. Pitt’s commitment to rebuilding New Orleans and the victims of Hurricane Katrina who were disproportionately black earned him some points in my book. They even have a black daughter. They’re cool, like Miles Davis cool.
Abraham Lincoln
Everybody loves good old Abe, I mean; he freed the slaves’ right? Right. Prior to the election of President Obama and the rise of Bill Clinton I think it’s safe to say that old Honest Abe — who was friends with notable abolitionist Frederick Douglass — was the favorite president of many people in the black community. Now those of us who went to college and took African-American studies classes have read a few of Abe’s speeches. We didn’t quite like his portrayal of blacks in some of them. But hey, without the Emancipation Proclamation we would have had to revolt and kill white folks to get our freedom. That could have reflected negatively on us as a people so Abe, we thank you.
Honorable mentions: Jon B., Britney Spears and Roseanne Barr. No explanations needed.
Do you have any favorite white people? Don’t be shy!
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