Use in Television and Film
In a popular sketch on Saturday Night Live (SNL), Chevy Chase and Richard Pryor used both nigger (Chase) and honky (Pryor) in reference to one another during a "racist word association interview". During this period, SNL also aired (musical guest and stand-up regular) Steve Martin's rendition of "King Tut," which contained in its lyrics the word honky. Even though it was intended as light hearted humor, it questions the Afro/Arabic ethnicity of Tutankhamun-disputed amongst Egyptologists to this day.
On the TV series The Jeffersons, George Jefferson regularly referred to a white person as a honky (or whitey) as did Redd Foxx on Sanford and Son. This word would later be popularized in episodes of Mork & Mindy by Robin Williams and Jonathan Winters.
The neighbor on the British sitcom Love Thy Neighbour, played by Rudolph Walker, would often refer to his bigoted white neighbor (Jack Smethurst) as 'honky'. The Canadian TV show Jamaican For Honkeys, starring comedians Kevin Jackal Johnston and Trixx, uses the term in the show's title. In an episode of Family Guy, Peter Griffin uses the word to try to get out of jury duty.
These and other shows, as exemplified by the controversial All in the Family, attempted to expose racism/prejudice as an issue in society using the subversive weapon of humor. However, the effect that this theme had on television created both negative and positive criticism.
In film, there were some movies using honky without any derogatory connotation. Honky Tonk is a 1929 American musical film starring Sophie Tucker. And Honky Tonk is also a 1941 black-and-white Western film starring Clark Gable and Lana Turner.
Honky is a 1971 movie based on an interracial relationship (starring Brenda Sykes as Sheila Smith and John Neilson as Wayne "Honky" Devine). Honky Tonk is also a 1974 Western film starring Richard Crenna and Margot Kidder. Additionally, Honkytonk Man is a 1982 drama film set in the Great Depression. Clint Eastwood, who produced and directed the film, stars in the film with his son Kyle Eastwood.
The 2002 British film Ali G Indahouse contains a scene called "Tight Rhymes for a Honky".
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Famous quotes containing the words television and/or film:
“Never before has a generation of parents faced such awesome competition with the mass media for their children’s attention. While parents tout the virtues of premarital virginity, drug-free living, nonviolent resolution of social conflict, or character over physical appearance, their values are daily challenged by television soaps, rock music lyrics, tabloid headlines, and movie scenes extolling the importance of physical appearance and conformity.”
—Marianne E. Neifert (20th century)
“You should look straight at a film; that’s the only way to see one. Film is not the art of scholars but of illiterates.”
—Werner Herzog (b. 1942)