An old clip from The Golden Girls long-forgotten spin-off series The Golden Palace featuring Don Cheadle has been recirculating on social media and it may be more relevant today than it was 28 years ago.
In the scene, Cheadle plays the manager of a hotel being run by Blanche, Rose, and Sophia. Blanche is seen hanging a racist Confederate flag in the hotel’s lobby. When Cheadle’s character asks why she’s displaying it, clueless Blanche says it simply brings her “wonderful family memories.”
That’s when Cheadle schools her on what the flag really represents.
“This flag, Mrs. Devereaux, is not about college football games or quilting bees or fried chicken on Sunday,” he says. “It’s about colleges that won’t let me in. It’s about companies that won’t hire me. It is about crosses being burnt front lawns today–not an evil past, Blanche, today. And not just in the South, all over. The North is just as bad.”
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Later in the episode, Cheadle explains, “The legacy of that flag is alive every time I’m walking down the street with a group of my friends and I see a white person cross over to the other side because they’re afraid. So please don’t tell me about that flag, I’ve battled that flag all my life.”
Watch.
Creamsicle
The Golden Girls were ahead of their time and extremely progressive for the ’80s.
The show tackled interracial marriage, illegal immigration, gay marriage, homelessness in Reagan’s America, Antisemitic discrimination, body positivity, and they themselves were just barely above working poor.
The show wasn’t perfect. The illegal immigration episode still smacks of being a bit tone deaf and puts the focus on Bea Arthur instead of Mario Lopez. But it WAS a 22 minute sitcom back when people were still used to TV that returns to the status quo each episode. Following a show religiously was only for soap opera and telenovela fans.
michael_totzke
YES !!!
Cam
Exactly!
michael_totzke
WELL WRITTEN; BEAUTIFULLY PERFORMED.
ScottOnEarth
The creators and writers for ‘The Golden Girls’ and ‘Golden Palace’ were visionaries. They didn’t just highlight important societal topics way ahead of their time, they did so with substance, truth and humor. Sophia’s scene with Blanche about gay marriage is still so sweet, simple and poignant more than 30 years later.
Smith David
This scene was even more powerful for me because it was delivered so exceptionally. Actors at the top of their game. Beautifully done. I’m an African- American man. “The Golden Girls” will ever be an American Staple for me.
fur_hunter
I loved that show and watched it religiously. Yeah. It was WAY ahead of its time as to how they addressed many relevant social subjects. The Twilight Zone did as well in clever, round-about ways and I believe is one of the reasons it was finally terminated.
lord.krath
This series was so much more about laughs. It is enriched with all kinds of personal and social commentary. I love rewatching it and experiencing the laughs, the tears, the trials and tribulations, and of course the camaraderie. Fantastic episode.
Dax45
It’s a very important message. However I think this was the early 90s not the 80s.