In the aftermath of Obama receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, Will Smith, Wyclef Jean and Toby Keith were performing at a concert in Oslo, Norway when Toby Keith apparently pulled his eyes back in the “chinky eye” to mimic Asian features. The context: Will Smith was performing verses of Sugar Hill’s “Rapper’s Delight” when he reached the following lyric:
See I am the [garbled] Will and I like to say hello
To the black, to the white, the red and the brown,
The purple and yellow
But first I gotta bang bang the boogie to the boogie
Say up jump the boogie to the bang bang boogie
Let’s rock, you don’t stop
Rock the rhythym that will make your body rock
While performing this part of the lyric, both Will Smith and Toby Keith pointed at Smith for “black” and Keith for “white”. Then, Keith proceeds to do some gesticulating with his hand for “the red and the brown”, and than points to the corner of his eyes for “yellow”. Afterwards, he points his index finger (in the shape of a gun) for “bang bang” — indicating that he’s miming out these well-known lyrics for Smith.
The relevant part of the video can be found below, starting at about 1:20 on the video counter.
As Gawker points out, it’s possible Keith just had an ill-timed itch in his eye. Or it’s possible he was making the “chinky eye” and got caught on video. If so, shame on you, Toby Keith; and not just for wearing a jean jacket and a cowboy hat to the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony.
