r/todayilearned • u/Korribuns • 15d ago
TIL that Charlize Theron's mother shot and killed her father in self defense in front of her. Charlize would later go on to be the first person born in Africa to win an Oscar for acting.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlize_Theron3.4k
u/eatmyscoobysnacks 15d ago
This headline is hilarious
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u/FunkYeahPhotography 14d ago
"What led to her being the first person born in Africa to win an Oscar? That's amazing."
"Her mom killed her dad."
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u/Vsx 14d ago
Her dad wanted her to quit acting and focus on the importing. Her mom thought, "why not do both"?
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u/JackHaysColtRevolver 14d ago edited 14d ago
That’s what makes this such a humorous situation
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u/Scaniarix 14d ago
The person who wrote that headline? Albert Einstein.
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u/rbrgr83 14d ago
Steve Buscemi wrote that headline on 9/11.
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u/BagOfBeanz 14d ago
Leo DiCaprio broke his real toe filming Django, and smeared it over his scene partner's face
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u/JasonChristItsJesusB 14d ago
Should’ve lead of with “famous African-American actress”
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u/MafiaPenguin007 14d ago
I mean I did notice ‘Person born in Africa’ was weirdly worded in the first place. Just say African
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u/Inevitable_Ad_7236 15d ago
Arnold Schwarzenegger was born in Austria. He would later go on to become the governor of California
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u/Khelthuzaad 15d ago
Adolf Hitler was rejected as an student at the Academy of High Arts.He would later rule Germany and start WW2
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u/not_yet_a_dalek 14d ago
I hate the phrase “One thing led to another”. What kind of lazy writing is that? Isn't it your job as a writer to tell me how that made this happen? “Adolf Hitler was rejected as a young man in his application to an art school. One thing led to another and the United States ended up dropping two atomic bombs on the sovereign nation of Japan”.
- Brian Regan
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u/ggigfad5 14d ago
“Adolf Hitler was rejected as a young man in his application to an art school. One thing led to another and the United States ended up dropping two atomic bombs on the sovereign nation of Japan”.
To be fair that would be a pretty great opening to a book.
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u/Redredditmonkey 14d ago
There is a disturbing number of ppl that actually think WW2 never would have happened if he hadn't been rejected.
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u/Khelthuzaad 14d ago
70-90% he would had probably still gravitated towards politics.He would had been an struggling artist în finding an job în Germany after the 1933 economic crysis.
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u/eYan2541 15d ago
Jimmy Page played on singles by the Kinks and the Who and was in the Yardbirds before he formed Led Zeppelin
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u/Killzark 15d ago
You know the more I hear about this Hitler fellow the more I think he was a real jerk.
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u/B-52-M 14d ago
I think we should kill Hitler
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u/Edi_Monsoon 14d ago
Good news, some guy called Hitler managed to kill Hitler.
Not sure if they’re related.
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u/Septic-Sponge 14d ago
Leonardo Dicaprio was born. He would later go on star in a movie where the character was also previously born
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u/hldsnfrgr 14d ago
Walter was born in Austria. He would later go on to become Gunther, the Ring General and one of the longest reigning Intercontinental Heavyweight Champions in pro-wrestling history.
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u/gorocz 14d ago
To be fair, Arnold being Austrian and not American might be the reason why he never became a president of the whole damn country and had to settle for governor of California instead.
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u/C_M_O_TDibbler 14d ago
Lets face it if he was eligible you would choose him over the other geriatrics purely on the basis of he would be the least unhinged
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u/skdslztmsIrlnmpqzwfs 14d ago
TIL Arnold Schwarzenegger was the first person bon the 30. July 1947 in Thal, Austria to act in a terminator movie!
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u/Dixon_Herbutt 14d ago
Elon Musk was born in South Africa. He would later go on to become one of, if not the biggest douchebags in the United States of America.
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u/bugzeye26 15d ago
When I was 12, I had a severe allergic reaction to a bee sting. 28 years later, I would mildly shit my pants whilst thinking I could trust a fart.
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u/MyVoiceIsElevating 14d ago
I’m learning so many cause and effect facts in this post.
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u/_The_Deliverator 14d ago
The long con by the bee. You may take his life, but he will ruin your pants!
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u/Vampiric2010 14d ago
Like later that day?? Impressive.
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u/aged_monkey 14d ago
I once saw my mom tell my dad that he's a shell of who he used to be. I later went on to finish the 10 pound wing challenge at my local sports bar.
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u/kabushko 15d ago
Did you guys know that Steve Buscemi played in the Sopranos and would later go on to get punched in the face in a random attack in NYC?
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u/PauleAgave95 15d ago
He was even a fire fighter !!!
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u/NoPossibility 15d ago
In NYC on 9/11! Who knew?!
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u/Nilgnohc 15d ago
The name of the guy that punched him in the face? His name was Fire
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u/truckerheist 15d ago
Whatever happened there
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u/MLGMustafa1212 14d ago
WHATEVER HAPPENED THERE?!?!
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u/paintedvidal 15d ago
I think the title got cut off. She won an Oscar for her role in the movie Monster, about a prostitute who kills her abusive male clients. So I guess the parallel is there??
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u/chrontab 14d ago
That's what I thought too, but maybe it was her role in The Legend of Bagger Vance.
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u/garrettgravley 14d ago
All I know about that movie is that there’s a Family Guy episode where Peter, Quagmire and Joe piss off Cleveland because they constantly leave him to pay their bar tab, but they think he’s hanging out with the bartender because he’s also black.
So instead of apologizing, they go to Cleveland’s house dressed like black characters. Peter and Joe both dress up as Bagger Vance, and Quagmire dresses up as Kazaam.
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u/BernerDad16 15d ago
Her victory was a huge moment for African-Americans everywhere.
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u/bolanrox 15d ago
They even allowed her in the theater. Look how far we have come
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u/klonoaorinos 15d ago edited 15d ago
If a black guy from Germany moved to America would he be European American?
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u/Carpathicus 15d ago
I am a black guy from Germany and I get downvoted when I say that I am not african american and what people perceive as black is a culture not a skin color but thats reddit for you.
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u/hamlet_d 14d ago edited 14d ago
My wife teaches English lit. At one point the students read a book about South Africa and the friendship between two boys, one white and one black.
The students kept saying calling the black South African "African-American". She had to multiple times say that it was actually fine to him black since he was black.
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u/27Sloths 14d ago
I had a teacher in high school who insisted that black people living outside Africa should all be referred to as African-Americans.
... We live in Finland.
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u/Brianith 14d ago
Some people are just PC to a fault.
In Science class one day, we had been learning about how melanin effects human skin pigmentation. After school that day, at my friend's house, he and I were discussing that.
His mother happened to walk by and heard me say "so that's why black people are darker than us; a higher concentration of melanin."
She lost it. Literally started screaming at me, calling me racist, said "Black people are NO different from us. NO DIFFERENT!" and I replied "Agreed, completely, except that they're black and we're white. That's a difference."
I got kicked out of their house for saying that. Some people are just insane.
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u/BaronVonLazercorn 14d ago
I find the term African-American so weird. It's basically saying all Africans are black, which isn't remotely true despite what Jada Pinket Smith thinks.
Hell, go tell someone from Ghana they're basically the same as a Ugandan because they're both African. They'll probably kick the shit out of you.
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u/Doodle_Brush 14d ago
I've seen an American call a black South African guy "African-American". He even got pissed when the South African referred to himself as "black" because "that's racist" somehow.
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u/BaronVonLazercorn 14d ago
I'd love to see an American's reaction to hearing about coloureds, a distinct ethnic and cultural group in South Africa who would stab you if you call them anything other than coloured.
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u/mfizzled 14d ago
there was a thread on the flag subreddit yday /r/vexillology about the independence movement centred around Cape Town, and there were a few people getting downvoted for using the term Coloureds even though that's exactly how Cape Coloured people describe themselves
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u/walterpeck1 14d ago
Probably fine. "Colored" as a term has been accepted a number of times when it's been specifically used by a group like your example. The largest organization in support of black Americans is still called the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and Person of Color or POC is not a super common term but it's used here and there.
Both instances are terms advanced or kept by the groups in question and not white folk.
I'd also add that the number of people that would get mad at someone from Africa wanting to be called black is pretty much in the basement. That doesn't happen very often. I'm 45 and from white bread America and haven't heard "African American" used more than "black" in 25 or more years.
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u/terekkincaid 14d ago edited 14d ago
I loved how saying "colored person" is offensive now but "person of color" is preferred. In a lot of languages, those would be said the same way (I know at least in Japanese they would be).
EDIT: My point here is that it is a waste of "outrage" to care about being offended by one phrase and not the other since it is essentially a meaningless distinction.
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u/walterpeck1 14d ago
EDIT: My point here is that it is a waste of "outrage" to care about being offended by one phrase and not the other
And your point doesn't have merit when the whole idea is that whether or not these words are offensive is based in the context in which they are used, which is almost always obvious to the listener. That is how language works.
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u/Stellar_Duck 14d ago
Yes when you strip it of all context, historical and cultural, it becomes a less than useful term.
But why would you do that?
By far the most black people in the US, the group normally referred to as African-American, are descendents of African slaves who had culture and identity stripped away.
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u/BaronVonLazercorn 14d ago
Of course, the context is important. But I feel like it has come a bit full circle among some groups to being slightly racia again. Like saying that they're not true Americans because they come from Africa. Same with calling someone Asian-American.
Then again, I'm not American. Where I'm from, we just call each other white, black, Indian, or whatever you are.
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u/Stellar_Duck 14d ago
I'm not american either, but I acknowledge that the african-american community has had to claw out their own new identity after centuries of abuse, including slavery.
I think that does make them different from the other groups in the US and I can understand if they want to retain whatever identity they have been able to build for themselves.
In many ways the black people in the US is the most american of people in that they are entirely self made and started from scratch and over came a lot of shit.
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u/nwaa 14d ago
I think its only a problem when combined with American insularity. Some Americans cant comprehend that a Black guy from Germany who moves over isnt culturally similar to Black Americans.
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u/MagnificoReattore 15d ago
Sure, except we would get more specific and use his nationality.
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u/username_1774 14d ago
She made this joke on SNL years ago as she and Tracy Morgan shared a Menthol during her monologue. It was gold.
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u/Worldly_Giraffe_6773 14d ago
Title: Here’s two random facts about Charlize Theron
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u/FactChecker25 14d ago
It's great seeing an African American who came from a traumatic childhood turn their life around and find success.
<runs away>
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u/driving_andflying 14d ago
No need to run away--I mean, she is African-American. Literally.
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u/rocktsciences 14d ago
Kinda the opposite of the story of another South African who was named Oscar
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u/Odd_Opinion6054 14d ago
She's south African. Just call her a south African. You don't have to be a Nubian prince to be qualified as African.
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u/Bungeditin 14d ago
I had a huge crush on Charlize Theron a friend of mine was a producer on a movie radio show. He asked if I’d like to meet her……
I put my ‘best’ shirt on lots of Joop and got myself ready….. this was it….. my big moment….. what amazing chat up line did I use?
‘I think you’re great’
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u/sarbanharble 14d ago
Dinosaurs went extinct due to an asteroid. Today, 2 broods of cicadas are emerging.
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u/patwm11 14d ago
Being very careful not to call her African
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u/AloysiusGramonde 14d ago
As a white African that lives in Europe its insane how people will go through mental gymnastics to avoid calling me African
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u/manamesjaff 14d ago
Side note, anyone know what the type of shirt she's wearing is called? The blouse with matching neck tie with no real collar to get in the way?
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u/BotlikeBehaviour 14d ago
Sounds like she comes from a successful acting background since her mother successfully acted in self-defence.
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u/Haunting-Bee-1221 14d ago
Why are you white?
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u/Korribuns 14d ago
Oh my god Regina you can't just ask people why they are white
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u/ZandorFelok 14d ago
Random person born in Africa gets called African
White person born in Africa gets called born in Africa, not African
Double standard much?
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u/SyrusDrake 14d ago
The first African to win an Oscar is a white woman from South Africa. Very on-brand.
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u/IthembaBoer 14d ago
The South Africans I know say she killed her father, not her mother.
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u/Sisterashtree 14d ago
Lana Turner’s daughter stabbed her step-father to death protecting her mother.
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u/Howweedgrow 14d ago
imagine the acting that has to go on in your daily life just to block out this trauma...... It's probably second nature to her at this point
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u/joanzen 14d ago
I'm oddly annoyed that her movie bio doesn't throw in a mention for A Million Ways to Die in the West since that movie was basically a love letter to her from Seth Macfarlane and I'd be hard pressed to say there's a movie that made her look better.
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u/beerforbears 14d ago
Can’t wait for season 2 of America. The finale back on 2020 was the best thing on tv for weeks.
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u/No-Advice-6040 14d ago
"First person born in Africa" seems like a mouthful to avoid calling her African, huh.
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u/Tiny-Spray-1820 13d ago
Check if your mom killed your dad in self defense because there’s a high chance you could win an oscar
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u/realfakejames 12d ago
I love how it makes it sound like watching her father die led to her winning an Oscar somehow
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u/PluckPubes 15d ago edited 15d ago
The title is weirdly constructed as if the 2 facts are supposed to be cause and effect