Ted Lange recently got candid and revealed that he was often treated as an afterthought by the creators of The love boat.
For those who don’t know, the 77-year-old American actor and director played the role of Isaac Washington in The love boat and was the only black man in the 1976 sitcom.
By discussing with PEOPLE magazine after setting sail on Princess Cruises love boat Celebration at Sea, Lange recalled his time on the set of the romantic comedy-drama television series, created by Wilford Lloyd Baumes.
He opened up to the outlet about facing “racism” while playing bartender Washington because he was “the only black man on a white show” and admitted that his castmates supported him during that difficult time.
THE Friday Foster The star recalls, “Sometimes they would neglect you, and by that I mean they would focus on the white characters and they would give you the leftovers. And then my whole job was to make it fair – just to make it fair.”
Lange pointed out that white characters did the opening “welcome aboard” sequence and the closing goodbye during the first season of The love boat.
“So I went to the producers and asked, ‘How come I’m not involved in all this?’ They said, “What are you worried about?” You do this and you do that. I said, ‘No, no, no, it’s not fair,'” he shared, remembering.
It seemed the producers ignored his concerns, but “deep down it was racism” that made them ignore his questions, according to the Blade alum.
“They said, ‘Well, what would you do there?’ I said, “What is the captain doing here?” The captain should be on the bridge. What is the doc doing there? He should be in the infirmary. If you have enough creative imagination to write these guys, you can do it for me,” Ted Lange said.
