Here at Spin, we are proud followers and chroniclers of David Crosby‘s Twitter account, where the ’60s folk-rock icon regularly and colorfully expresses his disdain for things like the Trump administration and most popular music. Even when Crosby’s opinions are straight-up wrong–like when he dismissed the Velvet Underground and Talking Heads as “pretty much all dumb stuff“–there’s usually something about his curmudgeonly charisma that makes you almost wish you agreed with him. Today, he waded into some, ah, murkier waters. Take it away, Dave.
Tell you what
If you don’t understand what black people are angry about
Paint your face black
Go demonstrate about some injustice
See if the cops are different to you
Then think about it— David Crosby (@thedavidcrosby) January 17, 2018
Now, we get what Croz is trying to say here, and his heart’s in the right place. But, as at least one of his followers was keen to point out, you can’t really encourage a bunch of well-meaning white people to don blackface and take to the streets. To which Crosby responded: yeah, well, I don’t mean corny old time blackface. I mean some real state-of-the-art shit. Try it… get a taste.
I don’t mean corny old time blackface …I mean a good makeup job …looks real …try it …..get a taste https://t.co/5wKOhoKpF5
— David Crosby (@thedavidcrosby) January 17, 2018
Crosby being Crosby, he moved on from this debate pretty quickly, into a field in which he holds considerably more expertise. While he was urging his followers to try out racist facepaint, a curious follower asked him for his favorite Joni Mitchell album, to which he answered:
— David Crosby (@thedavidcrosby) January 17, 2018
Solid choice.