Samuel L. Jackson is weighing in on Joe Rogan's past use of the N-word, saying that he should never have used the racial slur regardless of what the context was.
Earlier this month Rogan issued an apology after a video emerged showing him using the N-word in clips of episodes over a 12-year span.
In a video posted on Instagram earlier this month, Rogan said there is no context where "a white person is ever allowed to say that word, never mind publicly on a podcast," adding, "instead of saying the N-word, I would just say the word. I thought as long as it was in context, people would understand what I was doing."
Speaking with The Sunday Times, Jackson disputed Rogan's claim that his words were taken out of context.
"He is saying nobody understood the context when he said it," Jackson said, according to Yahoo! Entertainment. "But he shouldn't have said it. It's not the context, dude — it's that he was comfortable doing it. Say that you're sorry because you want to keep your money, but you were having fun and you say you did it because it was entertaining."
The actor added, "It needs to be an element of what the story is about. A story is context — but just to elicit a laugh? That's wrong."
During the interview, Jackson also addressed criticism Quentin Tarantino has received for including the N-word in his scripts. Jackson, who has appeared in several of Tarantino's films, said the backlash the filmmaker has faced is unfair.
"Every time someone wants an example of overuse of the N-word, they go to Quentin — it's unfair," he told the Times. "He's just telling the story and the characters do talk like that. When Steve McQueen does it, it's art. He's an artiste. Quentin's just a popcorn filmmaker."
Jamie Foxx, who starred in Tarantino's "Django Unchained," also defended the filmmaker in a 2018 interview with Yahoo! Entertainment, saying that the repeated use of the N-word in the film was consistent with the film's setting in the Antebellum South.
"I understood the text. The N-word was said 100 times, but I understood the text — that's the way it was back in that time."
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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