NEW YORK – Ted Danson, who rose to sitcom stardom as barkeeper Sam Malone on Cheers (1982 to 1993), apologised in a podcast released on June 3 for appearing in blackface and his repeated use of a racial slur while roasting actress Whoopi Goldberg more than three decades ago.

Danson, now 78, was involved romantically with Goldberg at the time of the 1993 celebrity roast, which was hosted by the New York Friars Club.

His monologue, peppered with jokes about Goldberg’s anatomy and their sex life, drew intense criticism that has trailed the actor over the years.

“I need to and want to apologise for the rest of my life,” Danson told comedian W. Kamau Bell on Bell’s podcast, Who’s With Me?

Outraged by what he had seen and heard, television host Montel Williams stormed off the dais at the roast. David N. Dinkins, the city’s mayor at the time and the first person of colour to hold the office, described the jokes as “way, way over the line”. And the dean of the friars, a fraternal club, apologised.

“That was so arrogant and stupid on my part,” Danson said of his actions.

While discussing the scandal on the podcast, the actor, who is also known for his roles on CBS television show Becker (1998 to 2004) and the movies Three Men And A Baby (1987) and Three Men And A Little Lady (1990), said he and Goldberg had tried to back out of the roast because their extramarital affair was ending.

But with hundreds of tickets already having been sold to the celebrity roast, he said, they could not.

“So my brain was going, OK, here is one of the most outrageous, funny Black women in the world at that point, and I’m supposed to be roasting her,” he said. “And I’m not a stand-up. I can’t run with the bulls.”

Danson said he spent months working on his monologue for the roast, which he acknowledged as being flawed from the start.

“Well, if I were Black, ...