I’m pretty sure that’s a derogatory term, Anon. *tsk tsk* 

True, the ethnic appearance of that body certainly drew Lestat’s interest from the beginning, and now it holds a caucasian’s soul inside. 

For what it’s worth, the first time that body is described (I did a quick search so this may not be the first time, oh well), the skin color isn’t even mentioned:

“Yes, there stood the same tall, powerfully built body, and the hair was the same thick, wavy brown hair…How his large brown eyes glittered. And what shining teeth he had.” – Tale of the Body Thief

Anyway I don’t have time to go find more quotes describing that body’s appearance but you get the idea. 

David Talbot probably had/has difficulty adjusting to the racial reactions he gets from this adopted ethnicity. It was hard enough adjusting to being young again. The looks an old white man gets are certainly not the looks a young – did we ever find out his actual ethnicity? I can’t remember – ethnic man gets.