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"White men are getting in trouble for saying the wrong words," Chris Rock once famously observed. And most recently, for both white men and women, the "N" word will always be that inevitably wrong one in question. While the word itself has undeniably racist roots, the semantics of using the term are far from black and white, a fact that was once again raised when Gwyneth Paltrow used it in a tweet last week. "N****s In Paris for real," she tweeted, leaving the Internet talking heads to pick sides on the thorny issue.
The "N" word is a complex issue, even amongst the people who feel racially entitled to use it. While "context is everything" is the golden rule for similarly offensive words (though, we'd argue few hold the same historical weight), for the "N" word, context is only a small part of the story. Motivations for use aside, there's also the issue of who gets to use it (People of mixed race? People who live in certain neighborhoods?), when they get to use it (Are song titles a "pass"? Historical literature? Lyrics?), and, of course, whether the word should be used at all. Maya Angelou argues the word is "vulgar and dangerous" and contends it shouldn't be used by anyone, even black people.
Regardless of what the answer might be (if a definitive one even exists), we can assuredly state one thing: If you're white, and the word tumbles out of your mouth, the water you land in will be beyond tepid. Without further debate, we present to you: The History of White Celebrities Using the "N" Word.
Written by Shanté Cosme (@ShanteCosme)
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John Lennon & Yoko Ono
Date: 1972
Back in 1972, lovers and tabloid magents John Lennon and Yoko Ono released the single "Woman is the N***er of the World," much to the shock of fans worldwide. Here's a sample of the lyrics: "Woman is the n***er of the world, yes, she is/If you don't believe me take a look at the one you're with/Woman is the slave of the slaves."
Lennon's intention was to describe the subservience of women, who were at the height of their struggle for equality. During an appearance on The Dick Cavett Show, the former Beatles member attributed the song's inspiration to Irish revolutionary James Connolly, who once said "female is the slave of the slaves."
Despite Lennon's intellectual explanation, the single was pulled from shelves in Britain, and, according to Billboard, was the lowest ranking single Lennon released in the entirety of his career.
Patti Smith
Date: 1978
Patti Smith provoked criticism when she attempted to turn a racial jab into a provocative statement in her song "Rock N Roll N***er." In the song, she refers to Jimi Hendrix, Jesus Christ, Jackson Pollock, and "Grandma, too" as the "N" word, followed by, "Outside of society, that's where I want to be," attempting to liken the word to some positive form of ostracism that she sought after.
Despite receiving criticism at the time it was released, "Rock N Roll N**er" is widely considered an artistic success, having been covered by many artists and featured on the soundtrack of 1994's Natural Born Killers.
Guns N' Roses
Date: 1988
The first song that Guns N' Roses frontman Axl Rose wrote on his own, "One in a Million," was met with controversy due to racial slurs directed at several groups contained in the lyrics. One line, in particular, caused a great deal of anger: "Police and n***ers, that's right/Get outta my way/Don't need to buy none of your gold chains today."
In an interview with Rolling Stone, when asked about the protest the song had incited, Rose explained that the record was inspired by "a large number of black men" he'd seen trying to hustle people in a L.A. Greyhound bus parking lot.
"I used words like police and n***ers because you're not allowed to use the word n***er," Axl explained. "Why can black people go up to each other and say, 'N***er,' but when a white guy does it all of a sudden it's a big put-down? I don't like boundaries of any kind. I don't like being told what I can and what I can't say. I used the word n***er because it's a word to describe somebody that is basically a pain in your life, a problem. The word n***er doesn't necessarily mean black."
Eminem
Date: Nov. 18, 2003
Eminem's lyrics became the subject of scrutiny when The Source produced recordings that contained several instances of him rapping with racial slurs. On the first, which was allegedly recorded in 1993, a pre-fame Eminem is heard rapping: "All the girls I like to bone have big butts/ No they don't, 'cause I don't like that n***er shit/ I'm just here to make a bigger hit."
On the second track, recorded in '88, Marshall Mathers spits, "Blacks and whites, they sometimes mix/ But black girls only want your money, 'cause they dumb chicks."
Eminem responded to the tapes and their implication that he was racist by arguing that he was only 15 when the songs was recorded. "Ray Benzino, Dave Mays and The Source have had a vendetta against me, Shady Records and our artists for a long time," he said a statement. "The tape they played today was something I made out of anger, stupidity and frustration when I was a teenager. I'd just broken up with my girlfriend, who was African-American, and I reacted like the angry, stupid kid I was. I hope people will take it for the foolishness that it was, not for what somebody is trying to make it into today."
Mark Fuhrman
Date: 1994
Los Angeles homicide detective Mark Fuhrman is best known for his discovery of the bloody glove that was the key piece of evidence in O.J. Simpson's infamous trial, evidence that he was later accused of planting. In his defense against this accusation, which Simpson's attorneys claimed was racially motivated, Fuhrman testified that he hadn't used the word n***er in 10 years.
Evidence was later produced that proved otherwise, including the accounts of four people who had witnessed Fuhrman using the word more recently, and most tellingly, a taped interview where Fuhrman describes telling black gang members, "You do what you're told, understand, n***er?"
For lying about his racist remarks under oath, Fuhrman was charged with perjury, fined $200, and sentenced to three years' worth of probation.
Quentin Tarantino
Date: December 1997
Technically, acclaimed filmmaker Quentin Tarantino didn’t voice the “N” word out of his own mouth; rather, he wrote it several times into his screenplay for his Jackie Brown, his 1997 throwback to ’70s Blaxploitation cinema. Mostly spoken by Samuel L. Jackson’s character, flashy criminal Ordell Robbie, the numerous N-bombs heard in the critically praised flick didn’t seem to bother many folks; that is, until Spike Lee heard them for himself.
As the story goes, Lee went off on Tarantino in an interview, saying, “I have a definite problem with Quentin Tarantino’s excessive use of the n-word. And let the record show that I never said that he can not use that word-I’ve used that word in many of my films-but I think something is wrong with him.”
Lee continued, “You look at Pulp Fiction,, Reservoir Dogs and even that thing with Christian Slater, True Romance. It’s just the n-word, the n-word, the n-word. He says he grew up on Blaxploitation films and that they were his favorite films but he has to realize that those films do not speak to the breadth of the entire African-American experience.” He also added that just because Samuel L. Jackson is Tarantino’s friend, that doesn’t mean that “black people love him.”
In his own defense, Tarantino later told Playboy, in a 2003 discussion, “I am working with The English language. I am not just a film director who shoots movies. I’m an artist, and good, bad, or indifferent, I’m coming from that place. All my choices, the way I live my life, are about that.”
Charlie Sheen
Date: 2005
Perpetual bad press magnet Charlie Sheen found himself in hot water in 2005 when a voicemail he'd left ex-wife Denise Richards in June of 2008 leaked to the press.
On the tape, Sheen is heard saying: "You’re a piece of sh*t f***ing liar and I hope you f***ing rot in hell. So f*ck you. I hope I never f***ing talk to you again you f***ing c*nt. F**k you. You’re a coward and a liar and a f***ing n***er alright, so f**k you."
Sheen later showed remorse in a formal statement: “I deeply apologize by my choice of words to all I have obviously offended; especially to Tony Todd, an African-American, who was my best man at my first two weddings."
George Allen
Date: September 24, 2006
In 2006, former Virginia Senator George Allen was running for re-election, and expected to win, before news broke that he had used a racial slur, thus derailing his campaign. According to a Salon article, 19 of Allen's former college football teammates claimed that he "used the "N" word on a regular basis back then."
Several teammates also attested to the fact that he gave off the impression that he was racist. Dr. Ken Shelton, a former teammate of Allen, said he specifically remembered that "Allen said he came to Virginia because he wanted to play football in a place where ‘blacks knew their place.'"
Allen spoke against the allegations, claiming, "It is completely false for them to say that that was a part of my vocabulary then, or since then or now I have never. I don’t understand why I would ever use such a word and I don’t remember ever using it and again, for them to assert that that was part of my vocabulary is absolutely false."
Despite his insistence that the claims were incorrect, the damage had already been done, and Allen was not re-elected.
Michael Richards
Date: Nov. 22, 2006
Former Seinfeld co-star Michael Richards became the subject of scathing criticism when video surfaced of the comedian lobbing the "N" word at hecklers during a 2006 comedy routine at West Hollywood's Laugh Factory.
Richards let out a flurry of racial slurs during his outburst, referring to the disruptive audience members with the "N" word several times over. Then, in regards to one heckler in particular, he instructed security to "throw his a** out. He’s a n***er!" and adding, “Fifty years ago we’d have you upside down with a [expletive] fork up your a**.”
Richards later expressed regret for the racial profanities during a taping of Late Show with David Letterman. "For me to be at a comedy club and flip out and say this crap, I’m deeply, deeply sorry,” Richards said. "I'm not a racist."
Paula Deen
Date: 2007
According to Lisa Jackson, a former employee of Paula Deen Enterprises, the celebrity chef and her brother, Bubba, exhibited racist behavior in the workplace and used the "N" word during a 2007 catering event.
In her lawsuit, Jackson alleges that Deen said the following when planning a wedding: "Well, what I would really like is a bunch of little n***ers to wear long-sleeve white shirts, black shorts, and black bow ties. You know, in the Shirley Temple days, they used to tap dance around. Now, that would be a true Southern wedding, wouldn't it?"
Representatives from Deen's camp responded, calling Jackson's claims "baseless, inflammatory allegations."
Paris Hilton
Date: February 2007
Furious anger erupted when a YouTube video of Paris Hilton and her sister Nicky dancing to Notorious B.I.G.'s "Hypnotize" circulated online; in the clip, Paris is heard exclaiming, "We're like two n****rs."
When Hilton failed to apologize for her language, her publicist, Eliot Mintz, came to her defense. "Each of us has used words we have regretted later," said Mintz. "This was six years ago. She was 20 at the time. It was New Year’s Eve. She had been obviously drinking. She sincerely regrets using those words. She is not a racist or an anti-Semite."
Dog The Bounty Hunter
Date: October 31, 2007
In October of 2007, reality TV star and professional bounty hunter Duane "Dog" Chapman's son Tucker sold a tape of his father using racially derogatory language during a telephone conversation to The National Enquirer. On the tape, Chapman repeatedly refers to his son's girlfriend with the "N" word and expresses his fear that she is planning to publicize his racial slur.
In addition to production for his A&E show being suspended, Chapman also faced severe media backlash for his racial tirade, prompting him to appear on Fox News and issue an apology. Chapman claimed to have a "special connection" with "black America," and continued, "My whole life I've been called a half-breed, a convict, king of the trailer trash, this and that ... So when I stood there and said, 'I kind of know what you feel like, because I've been there, too,' that I felt that I could embrace and like, as brothers ... say the word."
Chapman also added, "I now learned I'm not black at all, and I never did it out of hate... This sounds so stupid. I always did it out of love."
Carolyn Maloney
Date: August 20, 2009
New York congresswoman Carolyn Maloney used the "N" word in an accusation against Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Hillary Clinton's replacement in the New York Senate, who she perceived to be flip-flopping on the issues. When recalling a story she had been told about Gilbrand, Maloney repeated it verbatim, saying, "It was like saying n***er to a Puerto Rican."
Unsurprisingly, Maloney caught serious flack for using the word; she was quick to show remorse, though. "I apologize for having repeated a word I find disgusting," Maloney said in a statement. "It's no excuse but I was so caught up in relaying the story exactly as it was told to me that, in doing so, I repeated a word that should never be repeated."
John Mayer
Date: Feb. 10, 2010
During his now-infamous interview with Playboy, John Mayer made a number of racially offensive comments, amongst them a reference to his penis as being a "white supremacist" and seemingly flippant use of the "N" word when explaining the idea of a "hood pass." "It's sort of a contradiction in terms, because if you really had a hood pass, you could call it a 'n***er pass,'" Mayer said.
The immediate backlash to Mayer's controversial use of the word prompted him to issue an apology via Twitter, saying, "I am sorry that I used the word. And it's such a shame that I did because the point I was trying to make was in the exact opposite spirit of the word itself."
Mayer continued, admitting, "It was arrogant of me to think I could intellectualize using it, because I realize that there’s no intellectualizing a word that is so emotionally charged."
Kim Zolciak
Date: March 10, 2010
During an appearance on fellow co-star Kandi Burruss' UStream show, Real Housewives of Atlanta star Kim Zolciak casually dropped the "N" word when discussing her long-held appreciation for N.W.A. “Yeah, I remember listening to N.W.A. back in the day," Zolciak began. "Ya’ll know N.W.A., N***ers With Attitudes, it was 15 years ago but we still love it.” Too soon, Kim. Too soon.
Jesse James
Date: May 2010
A mere month after his very public separation from Sandra Bullock, Jesse James once again found himself the subject of negative press for his ex-wife Janine Lindemulder. She alleged that James made a racist remark when asking her for a paternity test. Her claim: James said, "I was told that you slept with a n***er."
His mother also echoed this claim, admitting that James frequently used the "N" word and even going so far to say he was "definitely racist." James denied the allegations in an interview with ABC's Nightline, during which he said, “There's not a racist bone in my body."
Jonathan Rhys Meyers
Date: May 17, 2010
The Tudors star and frequent rehab visitor Jonathan Rhys Meyers was banned from a United Airlines flight when he used the "N" word against an airline employee. Radar reported that Rhys Meyers was intoxicated in New York City’s JFK airport and was prevented from boarding a Los Angeles-bound plane when he begun using racial profanities.
An airline employee also added that it was "unclear if the actor was directing the word toward an individual or just spewing it without a specific target." Either way, that's a bad look.
Mel Gibson
Date: July 1, 2010
No stranger to accusations of racism, actor Mel Gibson followed up the infamous anti-Semetic rant from 2006 with an equally offensive 2010 outburst, in which he is heard using a litany of profanities, including, yes, the "N" word.
The audio captured an argument between Gibson and ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva, during which Gibson tells the mother of his newborn daughter, "You look like a f****** bitch in heat, and if you get raped by a pack of n***ers, it will be your fault." The tape's release prompted Gibson's talent agency William Morris to drop him.
Dr. Laura Schlessinger
Date: Aug. 10, 2010
Radio personality Dr. Laura Schlessinger sparked public vitriol when she used the "N" word during a heated discussion with a caller by the name of "Jade."
Jade lamented over the fact that her husband, friends, and neighbor occasionally used the racially offensive word. Dr. Laura argued in defense of the caller's neighbor, declaring that his actions couldn't be racist, especially considering that we currently have a black president. Schlessinger also alleged that "hypersensitivity... is being bred by black activists," and used the "N" word several times during the course of her conversation with the caller to illustrate her point.
At one point, Schlessinger used the word three times in a single sentence: "Guys use it all the time. Turn on HBO and listen to a black comic, and all you hear is n****, n*****, n*****. I don't get it. If anybody without enough melanin says it, it's a horrible thing. But when black people say it, it's affectionate. It's very confusing."
Amidst controversy and criticism, Schlessinger apologized on her show the following day. "Yesterday, I did the wrong thing," she said. "I didn't intend to hurt people, but I did. And that makes it the wrong thing to have done. I was attempting to make a philosophical point, and I articulated the 'N' word all the way out, more than one time. And that was wrong. I'll say it again: That was wrong."
Roger Ebert
Date: Jan. 5, 2011
Film critic Roger Ebert came under fire when he tweeted a link to a story about the "N" word being removed from new editions of Huckleberry Finn, preceding the link with, "I'd rather be called a n***** than a slave." Note: His tweet spelled out the full word.
Criticism quickly arose in response, with many citing the fact that Ebert was unlikely to be referred to with either word. Ebert swiftly apologized, tweeting: "You know, this is very true. I'll never be called a n***** *or* a Slave, so I should have shut the **** up," and linked to a blog post criticizing him.
V-Nasty
Date: Summer 2011
During the summer of 2011, at the height of Kreayshawn's "Gucci Gucci" fame, (the track when she first shouted out the fellow White Girl Mob member), V-Nasty caught flack for her liberal use of the "N" word as her video began to surface on the web.
V-Nasty defended her use of the "N" word, both in her lyrics and in conversation among friends, and claimed living in the Bay Area warranted her usage, arguing that, "In Oakland it doesn't matter."
Several prominent names in hip-hop, including Fat Joe, Trina, and Gucci Mane, also rose to the rapper's defense, but she eventually backed down from her self-professed right to speak the word, vowing to no longer use it in her lyrics.
Alec Baldwin
Date: Sept. 18, 2011
Long before Gwyneth Paltrow fatefully referenced Jay-Z and Kanye's Watch The Throne hit, 30 Rock star Alec Baldwin caused a stir when he professed his enthusiasm for the track on Twitter, tweeting: "I love that song N*GGAS IN PARIS!!! I love Kanye!! I love @IrelandBBaldwin most of all!!!" Followed with, "Kanye and I are doing a song called N*GGAS IN MONTAUK. My album is called MY BEAUTIFUL PALE TWISTED FANTASY."
His tweets immediately garnered negative attention on the social network, prompting him to quickly counter with, "Anyone who thinks that quoting the title of that song is racist is a disgrace. To the human race."
Gwyneth Paltrow
Date: June 1, 2012
Last week, Gwyneth Paltrow found herself at the center of a Twitter controversy when she tweeted a photo of herself on stage with Jay-Z and Kanye at a concert in Paris, captioned with the words, "N***as in Paris for real."
Despite her referring to the identically titled track on the duo's Watch The Throne album, criticism quickly descended, prompting Paltrow to defend herself in a follow-up tweet, saying, "Hold up. It’s the title of the song!”