Ted Danson is unburdening himself of a decades-old regret, declaring he wants to “apologize forever” for the infamous blackface performance he delivered at a 1993 roast of his then-girlfriend Whoopi Goldberg. The “Cheers” legend opened up about the long-haunting episode during an appearance on Walter Kamau Bell’s podcast “Who’s With Me?” released on June 3, 2026, calling his choices in the lead-up to that night “arrogant and stupid.”
The three-time Emmy winner, now starring in Netflix’s hit comedy “A Man on the Inside,” has rarely addressed the controversy in depth since it occurred. But sitting across from Bell — who hosted U.S. Rep. Lateefah Simon and “Sinners” star Delroy Lindo on earlier episodes — Danson made clear he intends to spend the rest of his life atoning for the bit.
“I would like to address this and apologize forever,” Danson said on the podcast episode. “I know what was in my heart, so I have no problem talking about this.
A Roast That Spiraled Out of Control
The episode in question unfolded in the fall of 1993 at the New York Friars Club in Manhattan, where more than 2,000 guests gathered for a roast of Goldberg, then at the peak of her film career following “Sister Act.” Danson, fresh off his 11-season run on “Cheers,” took the stage in black minstrel makeup with exaggerated lips painted in white, delivering a monologue laced with racial slurs that referenced his affair with the guest of honor.
The romance between Danson and Goldberg had ignited on the set of their 1993 film “Made in America.” Their not-so-secret relationship led Danson’s second wife, producer Cassandra “Casey” Coates, to serve him divorce papers after tabloids exposed the affair. By the time of the roast, however, the relationship between Danson and Goldberg was already cooling off, and both reportedly tried to back out of the engagement. The Friars Club refused, threatening legal action because, in Danson’s words, they “had sold so many tickets.”
Goldberg, who at the time called Danson her “best friend,” wrote much of the slur-laden material herself — something she later acknowledged publicly, saying she was motivated by the racism the couple had encountered. Danson cleared the act with her before he took the stage.
Twenty Seconds to Disaster
Danson told Bell he had worked “for months” on the bit, convinced he could pull off something edgy in the spirit of Robin Williams. He described talking himself into the blackface decision after studying tapes of stand-up performances and concluding that wearing the makeup would grant him “license” to deliver provocative material about race.
“I thought I could pull this off,” he said. Reality hit almost instantly. “Within 20 seconds, I was like, I stuck my finger in a light socket,” he recalled. At least two prominent guests registered their disapproval in real time: TV talk show host Montel Williams walked out, and New York City Mayor David Dinkins left the event early.
Fallout That Stretched Decades
The fallout was immediate and enduring. Goldberg defended Danson publicly for years, a burden he says he still feels guilty about. “Poor Whoopi Goldberg has had to defend me over the years, sweetly and gracefully,” he said. “So the last thing she probably wants to do is be put in this position again.”
The incident resurfaced powerfully at the peak of the Black Lives Matter movement, and Danson said he was quietly dropped from some “corporate things” as a result. He told Bell the controversy also strained the early years of his marriage to actress Mary Steenburgen, whom he wed in 1995 and has now been with for more than three decades.
“Over the years … Mary was sweet and gentle with me, but early on, (she) just couldn’t understand,” Danson said, noting his wife’s longtime civil rights advocacy. “She had done all this work, civil rights work and this and that, and she couldn’t understand it.”
A Renewed Career and a Lasting Regret
Danson’s career has continued to flourish in the years since. Steenburgen joined him in the second season of his San Francisco-set Netflix comedy “A Man on the Inside,” which has been renewed for a third season. But even amid the professional resurgence, the actor said the 1993 misstep remains something he must continually confront.
“It was wrong, and it was hurtful,” Danson said. “So I apologize again for, to anyone who’s listening, that I was arrogant enough to think that I had something to offer.” More than 30 years later, the man behind one of television’s most beloved bartenders is still reckoning with the night he believed he could be Robin Williams — and learned, in 20 seconds, that he could not.