TV - Movies
The Scene
That Denzel
Washington
Refused To Do
By NATASHA LAVENDER
Denzel Washington is set against a certain type of scene and has often refused to kiss white women on screen, but his opposition doesn't come from a personality clash or sense of prudishness. Additionally, in the most famous case, it doesn't stem from discomfort on the part of Washington's scene partner either.
The best-known incident in which Washington refused to have a film show his character kissing a white woman was in the 1993 legal thriller "The Pelican Brief," starring Washington and Julia Roberts. Many people believed the discomfort came from Roberts, but she later refuted this, saying she was very much up for it.
Washington explained that he didn't want to alienate his predominantly Black female fanbase by showing a Black man being intimate with a white woman rather than a Black woman. "Black women are not often seen as objects of desire on film," Washington said, adding "They have always been my core audience," although Washington has eased up on this in the years since.