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Black History Month taking place in February, literally the shortest month of the year, has long been a point of contention.
At 87, Morgan Freeman is still upset about the chosen month—so much so that he sounded off about it in a recent interview with Variety, a day after he won the Crystal Nymph award at the Monte-Carlo Television Festival in recognition of his television career.
“I detest it. The mere idea of it. You are going to give me the shortest month in a year? And you are going to celebrate ‘my’ history?! This whole idea makes my teeth itch. It’s not right,” he said.
The actor continued to assert that despite being singled out, Black history should be integrated directly into American history because everyone needs to remember the past 365 days a year and not just for a month.
Freeman’s comments come as he promotes The Gray House, a historical TV drama about Union spies during the American Civil War.
“My history is American history. It’s the one thing in this world I am interested in, beyond making money, having a good time and getting enough sleep,” he said. “If you don’t know your past, if you don’t remember it, you are bound to repeat it.”
This isn’t the first time Freeman’s questioned Black History Month, telling the Times last year about the shortness of the month and how he prefers being called Black instead of African American.
“Black History Month is an insult,” Freeman previously told the Times in 2023. “You’re going to relegate my history to a month… Also, ‘African American’ is an insult. I don’t subscribe to that title. Black people have had different titles all the way back to the N-word, and I do not know how these things get such a grip, but everyone uses ‘African American’.”
See how social media is reacting to Freeman’s BHM comments below.
