Dan Aykroyd Reflects on Controversial 'Trading Places' Scene: I 'Wouldn’t Choose to Do a Blackface Part' Today

As ‘Trading Places’ turns 40, its star is looking back at a scene that has aged poorly

Dan Aykroyd is looking back on what would now be considered controversial: his Blackface moment in Trading Places.

“I was in Blackface in that film and I probably couldn’t get away with it now,” Aykroyd, 70, recently told The Daily Beast.

The Ghostbusters and Saturday Night Live star indicated that a Hollywood makeup technique rooted in racism would not be considered acceptable today: “I probably wouldn’t choose to do a Blackface part, nor would I be allowed to do it."

“I probably wouldn’t be allowed to do a Jamaican accent, white face or Black,” he added.

Trading Places became a critical and commercial hit in 1983, becoming that year’s fourth-highest grossing film. Directed by John Landis and costarring Eddie Murphy and Jamie Lee Curtis, its story follows two men of different classes whose fortunes are reversed as part of an elaborate bet. Aykroyd played commodities broker Louis Winthorpe III, while Murphy, 62, played street hustler Billy Ray Valentine.

Related: Dan Aykroyd Opens Up About Drugs and Love in Candid Tribute to Carrie Fisher

At one point amid a revenge plot against the pair of wealthy brothers (played by Ralph Bellamy and Don Ameche) subjecting them to their cruel social experiment, Winthorpe disguises himself as a dreadlocked Jamaican, speaking in a stereotypical accent and wearing dark makeup.

“Eddie and I were improvising there,” Aykroyd said, remembering the scene. “Eddie is a Black man and his entourage were all Black people, and I don’t think they batted an eye. There was no objection then; nobody said anything. It was just a good comic beat that was truthful to the story.”

The actor continued, “In these days we’re living in, all that’s out the window. I would be hard-pressed to do an English accent and get away with it. They’d say, ‘Oh, you’re not English, you can’t do it.’ ”

Aykroyd further reflected on Trading Places’ legacy 40 years later, calling the movie “right up there with It’s a Wonderful Life or A Christmas Story” as a winter holiday favorite.

He also confessed to eating real salmon covered in hair during a memorable scene as a bearded Santa. “Of course I ate the salmon through the beard,” he told The Daily Beast. “Absolutely. Take after take, I can tell you.”

In 2021, Aykroyd reflected on sensitivity in the comedy world today with The Hollywood Reporter. “You don’t have to go pulling any divisive cards to get a laugh,” he said. “There is so much in the world to comment on that is outside the realm of offensiveness. As a writer, you can go to other areas and have successful creative endeavors.

“Who can be the subject of an impression today?” he continued. “That’s an area of discussion. Can I do my James Brown imitation? He was one of my best friends. I do his voice pretty good. But maybe I shouldn’t anymore.”

Aykroyd will next appear onscreen in the still-untitled sequel to 2021’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife, which reunited him with the original 1984 film’s costars Bill Murray and Ernie Hudson. He’s also signed on as writer and producer of an upcoming TV series adaptation of his hit 1980 film Blues Brothers.

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