In an apparent move to satirize former U.S. Olympic champion Bruce Jenner's transition from male to female, a caller to a national radio program came out on the air Wednesday as a black person trapped in a white man's body.
"I'm a little nervous 'cause I've never come out of the closet in any way before," said 38-year-old Steve from Chillicothe, Missouri, on the Rush Limbaugh program.
"But I wanted you to know, be the first to know and your audience to know that I am actually an African-American. I've been an African-American my entire life. It's been bottled up inside me, and as of today, I'm no longer going to be Caucasian."
Wondering how long Steve had been trapped in his "prison," Limbaugh asked: "How old were you when you first learned that you weren't really white?"
When Steve responded, "About 10," Limbaugh then said: "Ten years old, you knew you weren't white, even though you were. You weren't white, you knew you were African-American or black. So you've lived 28 years in a prison, right? You haven't been able to be who you are?"
"Right," said Steve. "It's been horrible 'cause every day I wake up and I know I'm black and everyone around me is white, and I'm living here in flyover country and everybody in my small town is basically white."
Limbaugh empathized with the caller, noting, "This has to be hell because here you are, you're Caucasian, but you know you're black, but nobody can see that you're black, so nobody can see who you really are. ...
"You're desperate to be known for who you really are. You're not an actor. You want to be known for who you are. You know you're black, but nobody can tell it. And you go tell people you're black, and they think you're nuts, right?"
"Right," responded Steve. "I mean, I've signed up for, like, minority grants and that sort of thing, and, you know, they all just laugh at me."
"This is a very courageous act on your part," opined Limbaugh. "I mean, to be an African-American trapped in a white body, that's cruel, the height of cruelty. Who could do something like that to another person? And that's gotta be tough. I mean, you're signing up for benefits that are available to African-Americans and you're telling them you are one, you knew when you were 10 that you were, and they're denying you, right?"
As Steve responded affirmatively, Limbaugh asked the caller what he planned on doing about it.
"I'm trying to start a movement," said Steve. "I'm calling you and I'm telling 30 million people that I'm actually black."
"Are you gonna do it on Twitter?" asked Limbaugh. "You gonna have a Facebook campaign?"
"I haven't got that far yet. I'm not through," said Steve.
"You're reaching 20 million of 'em here, but I imagine a number of 'em are gonna be kind of skeptical of this," said Limbaugh. "I'm sure you're gonna face females that aren't gonna believe you, be skeptical, think you're just trying to get on the financial the gravy train and they're gonna look at you and they're gonna see Caucasian. What color is your hair?"
"Blond," Steve responded.
"Blond, and yet you're African-American," said Limbaugh. "In your heart, in your mind, you know you're black. ... What does it feel like to be African-American? I can't understand."
"It's just hard to explain," said Steve. "I'm not white. I don't fit in with my family."
"Do you hate the cops?" Limbaugh interjected. "Do you have an animus against police officers?"
Steve noted: "Well, that's been building lately, as I see how other people of my color treat the cops and feel toward them, that's kind of been building in me, so, yeah."
"You know, you're gonna have to prove this to people," said Limbaugh. "I mean, you just can't go out there and say this. You're gonna have to prove you're black by doing all the stereotypes like Bruce Jenner is doing with women. I mean, you know, Bruce Jenner didn't just say, 'Hey, I'm a woman.' He had to go do the whole whatever to convince people of it. You can't just say it.
"It would be much easier if you say you knew you were gay when you're 10, but man, you've really bitten off a big one here when you say you knew you were black at age 10 when you're a blond-haired Caucasian."
"Yeah, and also now I'm in a biracial marriage and my kids are biracial, so I don't know what to do," added the caller.
"Married to a white woman, you're Caucasian, but you're African-American, your kids are biracial. You do have a problem," said Limbaugh.
After a commercial break providing some time to ruminate on the call, Limbaugh concluded by telling his audience: "My heart goes out to Steve, first caller, black man in the body of a white man. Wow. If you think he has it tough, imagine being a disabled black lesbian trapped in a nondisabled white man's body. Now, that could lead to serious therapy."