Outspoken comedian D.L. Hughley is calling out the “hypocrites” who are being silent about Ben Stein’s controversial comments on the Aunt Jemima image, but were so quick to cancel Kanye West and Kyrie Irving.
Over the week, a video surfaced online showing Stein expressing his gripes with the Aunt Jemima character being removed from the Quaker Oats syrup and pancake packages. The video, first posted to Donald Trump’s Truth Social, shows Stein talking about having breakfast for dinner.
“Aunt Jemima, yummy, pancake syrup,” Stein says.
“This use to show a large African-American woman chef, but because of the inherent racism of America’s corporate culture, they decided to make it a white person or maybe no person at all,” he continued.
“I prefer it as a Black person showing their incredible skill at making pancakes,” Stein said in conclusion.
As controversial as Stein’s comments are, they haven’t gotten as much backlash as some would hope. Comedian D.L. Hughley is among those who want to see more outrage over the video.
The “Original Kings of Comedy” star took to Twitter on Wednesday to react to Stein’s Aunt Jemima comments and call out the “hypocrites” who are seemingly unbothered by Stein’s remarks but were quick toKanye and Kyie as antisemitic.
“If you called #Kanye or #Kyrie anti semites but are silent about #BenStein saying he misses #AuntJemimah on the syrup bottle you’re a f—–g hypocrite,” Hughley exclaimed.
Quaker Oats announced they were removing the Aunt Jemima image from their product packaging and changing the company name in 2020, saying the company recognizes that “Aunt Jemima’s origins are based on a racial stereotype,” NBC News
reports.“As we work to make progress toward racial equality through several initiatives, we also must take a hard look at our portfolio of brands and ensure they reflect our values and meet our consumers’ expectations,” Kristin Kroepfl, vice president and chief marketing officer of Quaker Foods North America said.
The decision came during the Black Lives Matter movement in response to the murder of George Floyd. One TikToker posted a video that shared the racist history behind the “Mammy” figure that Aunt Jemima was designed after.
The company renamed the brand to the Pearl Milling Company in 2021, CNN reports.