Whitey (slang)

{{short description|Ethnic slur for a white person}}

{{for|the drugs slang|Whitey (drugs)}}

{{wiktionary|whitey|yt}}

"Whitey" is a derogatory term for a white person.{{cite web|title=Whitey|url=http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/whitey|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006162203/http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/whitey|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 6, 2014|website=oxforddictionaries.com|access-date=26 September 2014}} The level of contempt implied by the term varies, although it is most often used as an insult.

In Saturday Night Live{{'}}s notorious 1975 "Racist Word Association Interview" skit, Richard Pryor's character uses "whitey" as his response to Chevy Chase's character's prompt of "negro".{{cite web| title=Saturday Night Live, Richard Pryor/Gil Scott-Heron, Quotes |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0694453/quotes|website=IMDb|access-date=26 September 2014}}

During Barack Obama's 2008 US presidential campaign, a hoax was promoted that his wife Michelle Obama had been recorded "railing against 'whitey'", which she denied, saying, "That’s something that George Jefferson would say."{{cite news | author=Michael Powell and Jodi Kantor | title=Michelle Obama Looks for a New Introduction | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/18/us/politics/18michelle.html | work=New York Times | date=2008-06-18 | access-date=26 September 2014}}{{Cite web|date=2017-03-20|title=Man behind Michelle Obama and John Kerry hoaxes at centre of GCHQ row|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/gchq-michelle-obama-john-kerry-hoax-a7636996.html|access-date=2021-07-08|website=The Independent|language=en}}