Deon Cole: White People Give Too Many Standing Ovations, 'Conan' Writer Argues (VIDEO)

When "Conan" writer Deon Cole watched Octavia Spencer win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress on Sunday, he was happy for her. But there was something about the standing ovation she was given that just didn't sit right with him. What once was reserved for recognizing the best of the best now seems to be a little more... targeted. Especially among a group that's 94% white.

"I swear, sometimes Hollywood overcompensates for their guilt towards black people," Cole said. In fact, he shows a clip proving that sometimes at his own work he gets the same reaction -- even for simple tasks.

"So please, white people, take it down a notch." And for this speech, Conan and the audience let Cole know how exceptionally proud of him they were, by jumping to their feet with applause, of course.

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Comments

[carinined]

01:15 AM on 03/01/2012

as a black person i totally agree. there nothing special about black ppl, we aren't magic creatures that need to be pitied. many of us are doing well, most go to college and live nicely. we are normal ppl with a rich history, yes but its american history. nothing that demands over the top reactions or reporting. we are normal ppl lol unless we do it for EVERY race, i dont want it.

[Master-T]

11:45 AM on 02/29/2012

Yep. The "standing O for black Oscar winners" is tired and embarrassing. It's time to stop it. Well said.

[phoebequeen]

05:22 PM on 02/28/2012

I hated when audiences started doing that during Leno's show. Why?

[Smitty2000]

12:25 PM on 02/29/2012

They are probably told to stand. I remember Johnny Carson would get one every now and then and they would show it, but usually he didn't.

[phoebequeen]

05:02 PM on 02/29/2012

Johnny was a class act.

[darth geekboy]

02:24 PM on 02/28/2012

white liberal guilt.

actually, christopher plummer got a standing O too.

[Leond]

10:57 PM on 02/28/2012

Plummer won for his role as a gay man, so the explanation probably works there, too.

[pleasantlyny]

02:22 PM on 02/28/2012

Is it true she was the only one to get a standing ovation?

[Audacityscape]

02:00 PM on 02/28/2012

I'll be honest, I thought the same thing when I saw the standing ovation. She was one of the only ones to get one that night. Certainly she is talented and the oscar was deserved, but the other oscars were deserved as well and those winners didn't get ovations. To me it was a really strange, sort of pandering, oddly racial moment, when it didn't have to be.

I look forward to the day when a black actress winning an award is seen as AN ACTRESS, not A BLACK ACTRESS, and is treated just as everyone else. You'd think we'd be there by 2012, but I guess we're not.

[Holypat777]

12:06 PM on 02/28/2012

He's right. Not only that, most of us are bad tippers.

[Blaq Ninja]

12:35 PM on 02/28/2012

There are over 40 million black people in America and I'm sure you dont know all of us. Speak for yourself, that is if you really are black (which I doubt).

[Holypat777]

01:01 PM on 02/28/2012

I was talking about White people. Read the title!