What was Spike’s response to the whole thing? “I don’t think it’s out-and-out racist, but the film portrays blacks outside stereotypical roles, and they don’t know what to do with blacks in films. They never have any love interests. Nick Nolte is the one who has a relationship in 48 Hours. And when it comes to black sexuality, they especially don’t know how to deal with it. They feel uncomfortable. There are films with more gratuitous sex and violence. ‘9 1/2’ weeks got an “R.” And look at ‘Body Double’.”
That was 27 years after the above Tan magazine cover.
And in 1987, when Robert Townsend’s “Hollywood Shuffle” was released (in which his character was involved in a romance with Anne Marie Johnson’s), he was quoted as saying: “This year, I’ll be the only black man that kissed a black woman on screen. That’s deep.”