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Sarah Silverman lands HBO comedy special and late-night pilot after blackface scandal: ‘Nothing’s off the table’

Comedian said ‘nothing’s too high or low brow for me’

Ellie Harrison
Tuesday 15 October 2019 10:25 BST
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Sarah Silverman painted in blackface during 2007 episode of comedy show

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Sarah Silverman has landed a comedy special and a late-night series pilot at HBO after the recent backlash over a photograph of her in blackface.

In August, the comedian revealed she was fired from an unspecified film after producers unearthed an old photograph in which she sports blackface in a sketch from her 2007 comedy series The Sarah Silverman Programme.

She was then widely criticised for bringing up her blackface appearance in the context of “cancel culture” and the “culture of people going backwards”.

Silverman said at the time: “I think it’s really scary and it’s a very odd thing that it’s invaded the left primarily and the right will mimic it."

She went on to dub the entire concept “righteousness porn”.

In a statement announcing the late-night pilot, which she will executive-produce with Judd Apatow and Amy Zvi, Silverman said: “I’m as passionate talking about my face-washing routine as I am talking about why billionaires cost us money.

“Nothing’s off the table and nothing’s too high or low brow for me. I mean, look at my face, I’m literally all brow.”

Silverman is currently shooting opposite Jennifer Lopez in the forthcoming romantic comedy Marry Me and is adapting her memoir The Bedwetter: Stories of Courage, Redemption, and Pee into a musical that will premiere in 2020.

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