Comic Paul Mooney declares war on the N-word

Comic Paul Mooney, who served for years as Richard Pryor's head writer and wing-man, was the closest thing the N-word had to a prophet. If Pryor and Mooney were kindred spirits, however, their philosophies diverged when Pryor returned from a visit to Africa and swore off the incendiary epithet. When the comedic legend publicly announced he would no longer use it, Mooney followed him on stage at The Comedy Store in Los Angeles, shouting, "I'm gonna say it till I die. Bury me in a black El Dorado and write 'nigger' on the license!"

"I understand why young blacks wanna say it. I understand, 'We spell it with an A, not an E.' But it's like, if you cook a goat, do you sauté it or barbecue it? It's still a goddamn goat!"But as committed as Mooney was, the Michael Richards incident knocked him off his feet. After seeing the cringe-inducing cell phone video of Richards' Laugh Factory breakdown, Mooney was suddenly front and center on the other side of the controversy, spreading Pryor's gospel that the word was an evil to be abolished rather than reclaimed. Now, he's helping spearhead a movement. The people behind websites like abolishthenword.com and theunitedvoices.org are working hard to convince African-Americans to eliminate the slur from their vocabulary, and symbolic resolutions banning its use are working their way through local governments across the country—including one which was passed by New York's City Council on February 28.

Ironically, Mooney's new DVD, Know Your History: Jesus was Black ... So Was Cleopatra, filmed before the Richards incident, is chock full of the now-verboten invective.

RADAR: This past January, a town in Texas proposed a $500 fine for saying the N-word [the proposal didn't pass]. And the New York City Council just passed a similar, if only symbolic, ban. Should we be legislating this?
PAUL MOONEY: "Why you doin' five years?" "Oh, I said the N-word." I think that's absolutely brilliant. But, no. Dick Gregory said he's always gonna say it, because he was down south with Martin Luther King, Jr., and the sheriff looked down from the horse and said, "If you niggers cross this line, I'll kill you, and I don't care what that nigger-loving president has to say." Dick said, "They didn't say no 'N' word, they said 'nigger.' So I'll say it till I die." And I can relate. I understand why people say it, why young blacks wanna say it. I understand, "We spell it with an A, not an E." But it's like, if you cook a goat, do you sauté it or barbecue it? It's still a goddamn goat!

There's a routine on Know Your History about other ethnicities getting their "N-word wake-up call." Do you see every ethnicity as comparable to blacks?
Yes, of course. Mexicans, Jews, all of it's the same.

If that's the case, who is "the man?"
White people. They're always the man. The Romans. We're a spin-off of Rome.

I'm a Jew. So we'd be in the same category.
Of course. Two men in a burning house don't have time to stop and argue.

You once said that when Richard Pryor made his announcement about ending his use of the N-word, you didn't think he was sincere. Has everything that's happened now made you re-evaluate your opinion of what he did?
Oh yeah, of course. I couldn't see it! Like the Jew who was going to the concentration camps. "I'm German. They won't gas me. It's a shower." I just didn't know any better.

That's a harsh comparison.
But it's the truth, isn't it?

I interviewed you last year, and you said you were fine with the N-word. Why did the Michael Richards incident change your mind?
I saw the video. I saw the demons that it created. Being the ambassador for the word, being married to it, I had to accept the responsibility of my convictions. I was a part of it. By using the word, I made it available for him to use—I made it an equal opportunity word. So all the young kids say it. Richard [Pryor] and I did it for different reasons. They were different times. When I saw the Michael Richards video, I saw the horror and the heinousness of it.

When Reverend Jesse Jackson asked you to meet with Michael Richards, what did he say to you?

He said, "We want you to talk to this man, because you know him." I went in, and [Michael] grabbed hold of me. He held on so tight—he was so happy to see me. I supported him, gave him tough love. I understood it, because he had started out as a stand-up and he was funny, and then he got involved with that sitcom and they were licking out of his butt. He was the darling of the discotheque, getting all that instant love, which we comics all want.

Then he came back, and time had changed. The audience turned on him. They were very vicious, and they hurt him. And he reached into his bag of hell and tried to come back with the most horrible thing he could say. He didn't even know that was in there. And he freaked, 'cause a lot of white people agreed with him. He didn't wanna be the head of the Klan. He didn't like it.

"I got a call from Whoopi Goldberg. She said, 'I know you're the ambassador for the N-word. I have to get a one-week pass. I have to cuss some black folks out'"Now, I'm a Jew, but I'm also white—
No, you're not. You look it, but you're not. Haven't you learned from Mel Gibson yet? If you were white, Mel Gibson never would have said what he said. That's how white folks talk when nobody's around. Jews don't run shit. They run the awards ... Emmys, Grammys ... but Mel Gibson made all the money. The goyims. Procter & Gamble. White folks run that money. It's not a Jew on that green piece of paper, it's a white man. You better get your wake-up call.

Talking about and using the N-word has been a huge part of your career. How has it been restructuring your act without it?
It's been great.

Have you slipped at all?
I did slip, at the Lincoln Theater in Washington, D.C. The audience went crazy. When all this was going on, I got a phone call from Whoopi Goldberg. She said, "I know you're the ambassador for the N-word, I've been seeing you all over the TV, so I'm calling you. I have to get a one-week pass. I have to cuss some black folks out. After that, I'll never say it again, I promise." So I gave her a pass.

It's hard, obviously, not being black, but even as a Jew—
You black! Shut up! You keep saying that! 'Cause you keep relating to them goyims, you keep going to the power, "Hail Caesar!" Fuck Caesar. To have love for the master is sick. Psychiatrists have a name for it. When someone kidnaps you, you become connected with them.

Stockholm Syndrome.
Yes! "Massa, is we sick?"

What I was about to say is, when I was in junior high school, I got "kike." I got swastikas on my books.

Yes! Yes!

But I think because of appearance, we don't get it with the same intensity.
Because you can pass.

Exactly.
But you don't wanna pass. A lot of people do. They get their nose fixed, change their name, get contacts. "I am Gidget." Someone asked me, "Why did Jews put on blackface?" I said, "They put on blackface to make the master happy." It was like black-on-black crime. They did it to please that goyim motherfucker.

Is it possible, then, in our lifetime or in our children's lifetime, to do away with racism?
Yes.

How?
Kill all the white people on this planet. Someone said to me, "Well, what if your mother's white?" I said, "I'd have to kill her too." Bury them, dig them up, kill them again, and bury them again. I saw Dawn of the Dead. They'll get up.