Mayor Mell Kuhn of Arkansas City, KS, is right. What on earth is wrong with dressing up in black face as a character named Smellishus Poon — with back-up dancers called the Red Hot Puntangs — to raise funds for a children's organization? I mean, people seriously need to lighten up. It wasn't even real blackface, because Kuhn admitted he is no good at putting on a "black accent."

After the totally unexpected outcry denouncing his performance, Kuhn said, "All this PC is bullshit. We go around walking on eggshells all the time, we don’t get anything done." Unfortunately for Kuhn, the local NAACP and other organizations weren't really taking that statement of defense as a good answer. He ended up being forced to apologize. If only people weren't so sensitive! [TP]

Although many people seem to be in support of (or if not in support, simply ambivalent about) white people filling roles that should go to Asians, Hispanics and blacks, others see it as a continuation of what Hollywood has always been doing. Sure, getting a white guy to play what was supposed to be an Asian guy in 21 isn't quite the same thing as having a squinty-eyed, buck-toothed Mickey Rooney actually play a Japanese guy.

But these are the film industry's roots. If we go from yellowface, blackface, and brownface to all-white face, that's no great leap for non-white actors who struggle to find quality roles. Meaty minority roles used to be filled by white people in makeup. Now they're frequently just turned into white characters. It's not over-sensitivity that causes critics to comment on this trend (which has to have survived all the way to this day), it's history.

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• 50 Cent says he'll allow his consistency to destroy his rap enemies — I think. He's even harder to understand with those new veneers. Cord says he sounds like he's wearing vampire teeth. [MTV]

• Beanie Sigel's going to jail for three months for failing his parole pee test. [XXL]

• Reggie Bush doesn't discourage Kim Kardashian from eating her beloved junk food. He likes her just the way she is! Plus, if she loses that ass, he's outta there. [People]

• College kids love them some blackface, man. [EUR]

• Apparently, Turkey is the place to be for African American students studying abroad. [TZ]

• Aretha Franklin's son: probably a really bad Christian rapper. [NYMag]

• More than 1/5th of blacks surveyed believed that the reputation of Memphis, Tenn., suffered after Martin Luther King's assassination there in 1968. Only 1/10th of whites believe this. Oh. Okay. [JS]

• White people portraying black people in television and film is "risky [and] rarely successful?" Agreed. [PI]

• Legislating sagging pants is "selective law enforcement" and is completely ridiculous? Agreed. [SS]

• Thanks for the new Outkast, Kanye! [KW]

Here's the trailer for Tropic Thunder, the upcoming comedy starring Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Nick Nolte and Robert Downey Jr, who, as you can see, is featured in blackface.

We've been worrying for a couple weeks that the blackface element might ruin a perfectly bad movie, but – and we're loath to admit this – after watching the preview, we kinda, sorta don't mind the face paint anymore. We even giggled at the line, "Man, just because it's a theme song don't make it not true."

Crisis: what to hate on now? Where's our steadfast indignation? How about we get disgusted about a war comedy during actual wartime? Yeah, that's the ticket. War isn't funny.

Though we're still not sure we're 100 percent at ease with it, there are two mitigating factors to consider before getting angry about Robert Downey Jr's turn in brown makeup in the upcoming film Tropic Thunder: 1) he looks authentically black, not cartoony and 2) when not in blackface, he's practically in whiteface. See what we mean after the jump.

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Robert Downey Jr is in blackface for his new role in the Ben Stiller comedy Tropic Thunder. Before you summarily condemn him, note that unlike the Afrocentric Angelina Jolie's turn in A Mighty Heart, Downey Jr isn't portraying a character of color; he's playing a white actor named Kirk Lazarus who's stupidly cast as a black soldier. To us, it's almost as if Thunder is making fun of Jolie. Whaddya think?

Last Halloween, a costume party at the Dept. of Homeland Security went horribly awry and resulted in the suspension of one Homeland Security Department employee and put Julie Myers, who was acting head of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the time, in very hot water.

The issue? The anonymous employee showed up in a prison uniform, dreadlocks and blackface. He then proceeded to win the best costume contest, which was judged by Myers. Apparently, she realized "immediately following the party" that the costume was "inappropriate," and had all photos of her, the costume contest winner, and the party destroyed. Not so, says CNN!

Now, the head of the House Homeland Security Committee, Rep. Bennie Thompson, who is black, has seen them. He's not very happy.

Myers who is now the official head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, told members of Congress at her confirmation hearings late last year that the photos were gone. At least one senator says her confirmation might have gone forward in a "different way" had they been able to see the photos during the hearings.

• Vivica Fox sucked it up and turned herself in to the authorities. [People]

• Karith Foster, Don Imus' new black female sidekick, tries to put sellout accusations to rest. [SB]

• U.S. News & World Report says, "Sometimes Halloween Costumes Aren't Funny; They're Racially Insensitive." There's a more succinct way to put that. [USN]

• On top of everything else Barry Bonds has done, he's now pitting black and white fans against each other. There should be a federal investigation! Oh… [ESPN]

• Banning nooses doesn't ban racism. [LADN]

A Homeland Security official realized belatedly that awarding an employee dressed as a Rasta with "darkened makeup" the best costume award at the office Halloween party and then posing happily in a picture with him wasn't the best idea in the world.

The official apologized and took care to note that the employee was not in "blackface" makeup, but was wearing makeup that was darker than his skin. Conveniently, the incriminating photos have been destroyed. However, something tells me this guy wasn't walking around with just a spray tan. Just a hunch.

• This guy says he's sorry for implying that if you wear saggy pants you're gay. [DV]

• The NAACP joined 50 former Eli Lilly workers in a racial discrimination lawsuit against the pharmaceutical company. [CNNM]

• Two NJ black coaches say racist parents were responsible for their firing. [WCBSTV]

• A couple of Yale students try to school their ignorant peers on the history of blackface. We'll see if it hit home next year around this time. [YDN]

• Don Imus' radio deal is official. [Reuters]

Since I had you guys vote for the most popular blackface Halloween costume, the least I could do was search Flickr for some real life examples. While there were a few Michael Vicks – check one out after the jump — I found this one to be the most egregious. According to the Flickr site, this guy is supposed to be Zwarte Piete (Black Pete), who, to make a long story short, is Santa Claus' black assistant in Dutch folklore. Considering the fact that this guy had the nerve to tag his photo "blackface," I'm pretty sure he knew what he was doing.

More fun with ignorant blackface costumes Flickr after the jump.

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Let's be real. A football player is probably the easiest sort of black person a white person can impersonate, since a helmet over the face can at least partially obscure one's skin color. I guess that would be too easy — or too hard, I can't figure out which.

The readers of Stereohyped have spoken, or at least voted, and you officially predict that Michael Vick will be the most popular inspiration for blackface enthusiasts this Halloween. You also felt that a nappy-headed ho look would be popular.

Some of you wrote in your ideas, which include:

Barack Obama — How could I forget about him! All you need is shoe polish and a suit.

Barry Bonds — How could I forget about him? All you need is shoe polish and 'roid rage.

A Rasta with dreadlocks — Eh. I wasn't so sure about that when I saw it. But 'lo and behold, a band of University of Illinois students were photographed dressed as the Jamaican bobsled team. I'm pretty sure none of them were Rastas, but they hail from the same geographic region.

Check out the results from Stereohyped's Halloween Poll after the jump.

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Halloween is supposed to be a holiday for the kids, who get to dress up like their favorite Disney characters and troll the neighborhood for sweets. But a lot of adults consider Halloween as a chance to expose the side of you that you keep hidden the other 364 days of the year. Most women use Halloween as an excuse to dress like a total slut and get away with it. But for the completely ignorant and/or racist, Halloween is blackface time. Every year, in the days following Halloween, some frat boy at some college gets in trouble for impersonating a black person. And they never learn!

So I put together a little poll to see what you guys think will be the most popular costume among the blackface set. O.J. Simpson's an old favorite that I'm sure will be resurrected after his recent legal snafu. The Michael Vick craze has already begun. Jay-Z and Beyonce are the perfect costumes for the most popular couple in school. Plus, if the girl is blond, she doesn't even have to wear a wig. And the Jena Six and Rutgers basketball team? Those two are only for the truly daring. But I'm sure America's privileged college boys are up for the challenge.