As a cast member of Lee Daniel’s The Butler, David Banner proved that he has grown as an artist and actor. The film has reached No. 1 at the box office for two weeks straight and is a strong Oscar contender.
Banner recently spoke with rolling out about the film, his thoughts on hip-hop and Miley Cyrus’ journey into black culture.
What are your thoughts on The Butler winning the box office two weeks in a row?
It’s amazing that something of substance is doing so well. It breaks all of the norms when it comes to entertainment. It’s a motivating factor for young filmmakers. People wanted something positive. It’s an overload of negative things. It’s great for something as positive as this to do as well as it’s doing. We all know how Hollywood can be. They follow whatever is hot and where the money is being made. We made something positive hot.
What was it like to be involved in a film with the likes of Forrest Whitaker and Oprah?
Forrest and I did a movie called The Experiment together. It was amazing just to be able to work with him and watch his evolution. Before The Butler was released, Forrest produced Fruitvale Station. For him to be a part of two great pieces of work at the same time is amazing to me. As far as Oprah Winfrey is concerned, people from all around the world will check out this movie because she is a part of it. To be able to be exposed to that level internationally is amazing.
How have you grown as an artist as an actor?
A friend gave me one of the greatest compliments. He said,’People who come from where we come from, they don’t get to see hope. To see you on that screen is motivation to other black men who come from the same surroundings.’ People know the old the Banner. For me to be able to transcend that, it gives other black men, black women, and people who come from small towns to be able to break that mold. It helps me grow as a motivator and to be a server to my people more than anything.
What are your thoughts on the state of hip-hop?
Hip-hop will always reflect what’s going on in America. Look at TV, it’s disgusting. People take aim at rap because it is dominated by young black men, so that’s scapegoat to what’s going on in the regular world. The morals of America is disappointing to me. Rap is where America is. I got my opportunity through rap. So why would I take away someone else’s opportunity? All I want is for rap to have balance. Because if you say you’re keeping it 100, you’re not killing all day. You love someone. At least talk about that in one song. You’re not clubbing 100 percent of the time. So talk about that one day at church. You have to give people a full vision. They can never say I didn’t have balance. That’s all I want from rap.
Miley Cyrus got a lot of attention for her twerking during the VMAs. Do you think she’s using black culture to propel her career or do you see it as genuine art?
It’s a way for America to see what they did to our people. They try to put certain aspects of culture on black folks. Black folks act a certain way because of the environment America has put us in historically. You put guns in our communities and crack in our communities. Blacks don’t have the facilities nor the money to put drugs and guns in our community. Now their kids are smoking crack. You put crack in our communities and it permeates into other communities. And now they have to watch it on TV. I love how America gets to see what they did to our people. I think it’s hilarious.
Have we forgotten about Trayvon Martin?
I don’t think we did enough, I don’t think we were angry enough. We are only as angry as the TV and internet allows us to be. As soon as they stop focusing on it, we stop focusing on it. I can only comment on how I feel. I haven’t forgot it, I haven’t stopped talking and writing about it.
Listen to the entire interview below:
Checkout David Banner’s new film, Walking With Gods:
