An embarrassed Los Angeles entertainment correspondent was forced to apologise on air to Samuel L. Jackson this week after apparently getting him confused with fellow African-American actor Laurence Fishburne during a live TV interview.
KTLA reporter Sam Rubin was interviewing Jackson about his role in the upcoming ‘RoboCop’ movie when he asked the actor if he’d had a lot of reaction to his recent Super Bowl commercial. When Jackson asked, “What Super Bowl commercial?” Rubin, clearly prompted by someone off-screen, realised his mistake and began to apologise; but not before he had raised Jackson’s hackles.
“You’re as crazy as the people on Twitter,” an animated Jackson, who was doing the interview by satellite from Atlanta, told Rubin. “I’m not Laurence Fishburne. We don’t all look alike. We may be all black and famous but we don’t all look alike.” As Rubin tried to gloss over his faux pas, a smiling Jackson playfully questioned Rubin’s credentials as an entertainment reporter. He then went on at length, listing various black actors and their commercials.
“I’m the `What’s in Your Wallet,’ black guy,” Jackson said, referring to a commercial he had done for a credit-card company. “He’s the car black guy. Morgan Freeman is the other credit-card black guy. You only hear his voice, though, so you probably won’t confuse him with Laurence Fishburne.” Fishburne appeared as his character ‘Morpheus’ from the Matrix movies in a commercial for Kia cars during the Super Bowl on February 2.
The pair eventually got back to talking about “RoboCop,” with Jackson telling Rubin how highly he regards Michael Keaton and Gary Oldman, who appear in the film with him. Refusing to let Rubin off the hook, Jackson then teased: “You do know who they all are though, right? Just in case they have some of them on the show. Do some work. Do some research. Make sure you don’t confuse them with those other white actors.”
When he returned to the air 30 minutes later, Rubin apologised profusely to viewers, saying he has interviewed Jackson several times and does indeed know who he is.
“I really pride myself on the fact that unlike a lot of people who do this kind of work, more often than not I really do know what I’m talking about,” he said. “But I didn’t 30 minutes ago and I’m really embarrassed about it, and I very much apologise to Samuel L. Jackson and anyone else who was offended for what was a very amateur mistake.”
If Microsoft founder Bill Gates’ wife has her way, Jackson may have to fend off a few more ‘accidental racists’. The 58-year-old squillionaire invited users on Reddit.com to as him any question in a recent Q&A session. To the question, “Who would you like to portray you in a biopic?” another user chimed in “Samuel L Jackson” to which Gates, referring to his wife of 20 years, responded: “Melinda would probably watch that one.”
