Posted on 11/08/2006 12:38:35 PM PST by SmithL
The 20-something blonde who winked into the camera and asked now-defeated U.S. Senate candidate Harold Ford Jr. to "call me" isn't a bimbo, she says, she just played one on TV.
Johanna Goldsmith, an Austin, Texas, actor whose appearance in an anti-Ford ad touched off a national political and racial firestorm, was contractually barred from interviews until after Election Day.
She spoke to The Tennessean by cell phone today as she drove to work, car-pooling with her mother.
In addition to acting, Goldsmith also translates Spanish for a Texas doctors association. She says she's "more of a conservative, quiet person" who is "family oriented."
"I don't just play the bimbos, I play the young mom too," said Goldsmith. "I love children and comedy."
In the controversial commercial, Goldsmith plays a flirtatious blonde who says she met Ford at a Playboy party - a reference to his attendance at a Playboy-sponsored Super Bowl party in Jacksonville, Fla. last year. The ad, filmed in a faux man-on-the-street-style, featured other questionable characters who say they are Ford supporters.
Some pundits and politicians speculated that the ad, paid for by the Republican National Committee, was just enough to put Republican Bob Corker over the top. They said it played into racial fears of a black man dating a white woman.
The fact that 30 short seconds caused such an uproar - and landed Goldsmith's mug all over primetime television news channels and the front page of major print publications like Time Magazine and The New York Times - completely surprised her, she said.
As the spot was criticized as tacky and latently racist, calls from friends started pouring in alerting Goldsmith to her newfound fame, she said. A friend from Australia even called to tell her she'd made the cover of a major magazine in Melbourne.
Goldsmith, who has Mexican heritage and says she has "dated all nationalities," said she didn't see the ad as racist.
The day after the election, Goldsmith is still trying to catch up on the back-and-forth over the ad.
She tape recorded some of the news broadcasts and plans to watch them this weekend to catch up on what people have been saying for weeks.
As for her political views, Goldsmith says she's apolitical.
"I don't involve myself in politics. I stick to my job," Goldsmith said. "For me, it was just a job like any other."
Linda McAlister, Goldsmith's agent, said people of all political hues signed onto the commercial, produced by Dallas-based company Scott Howell Inc., because the script was funny.
McAlister said she was surprised people took the ad so seriously.
"That's what's been so hilarious about the whole thing," she said. "We've been looking at each other like, 'You are good. You sold it.'"
When I first heard Ford refered as a black man,I thought I was hearing things.Hell,he looks white.Of course we're living in a n up is down,black is white,what ever floats your boat,society these days.I thought he might have been a white dude who wants to be black
You definitely have to be a little slow to think that ad wasn't race baiting. I guess it did the job in Tennesee but probably set back whatever progress Republicans were making with blacks and probably cost Steele a Senate seat.
At least Ford lost. Playing the race card doesn't work every time, but that won't stop the RATS from playing it every time.
TPutting the chick in the ad was stupid and detracted from the message.
If I was Ford I might give her a call to 'do lunch'. Wouldn't that be a twist.
She's just cute as she can be! (And she looks friendly.)
he's black when being black is politically expedient
Thanks, I needed that!
About the only good news out of yesterday is that Ford Jr lost!
The race of the "bunny" involved means nothing.The fact that Ford willing associated himself with "Playboy" was,I suspect,quite important to many Tennesseeans.
Since we're being nit-picky here, "actor" can be (and often is) used as a generic term that applies to any theatrical performer: male, female or anywhere in-between. The article's use of the term was perfectly acceptable.
Ford's defeat is one of the only bright spots in a gloomy day.
You must not be from the south. even the tiny one redlight town i live in, north florida, is full of pretty mixed babies. I never understood the racism angle. I thought the ad was very funny, and i pretty much like Ford, although i am glad he is not going to be a senator.
Not raci....just nasti....
Actually, Harold couldn't overcome this --- http://youtube.com/watch?v=aWhq-T6toWw
And that's ridiculous. If the actress had been black, you would have had something to say about that too. Interacial couples are a common sight in many parts of the south. To call it race baiting is so yesterday.
You can't get much more southern than me and I would have voted for Steele.
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