Samuel L. Jackson dismisses Joe Rogan's apology for saying the N-word: “He is saying nobody understood the context when he said it, but he shouldn’t have said it. It’s not the context, dude – it’s that he was comfortable doing it.'
’s apology for using the N-word several times on episodes of Rogan’s podcast. Grammy Award-winning musician India Arie first called out Rogan’s N-word use by posting a video compilation to Instagram last month of Rogan using the racial slur over two dozen times.
“I know to most people, there’s no context in which a white person is ever allowed to say that word and I agree with that now,” Rogan added. “I haven’t said it in years.”and had this to say about Rogan’s N-word use and apology: “He is saying nobody understood the context when he said it, but he shouldn’t have said it. It’s not the context, dude — it’s that he was comfortable doing it.
For Jackson, using the N-word in media is only appropriate when it is “an element of what the story is about. A story is context — but just to elicit a laugh? That’s wrong.” Jackson then turned to his frequent collaborator, who is often criticized for using the N-word repeatedly in his screenplays. Jackson views Tarantino’s stories as giving proper context to the use of racial slurs.
“While we were rehearsing ‘Django Unchained,’ Leo [DiCaprio] said, ‘I don’t know if I can say [the N-word] this many times,’” Jackson said. “Me and Quentin said that you have to. Every time someone wants an example of overuse of the N-word, they go to Quentin — it’s unfair. 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.
Jackson has long defended Tarantino’s use of the N-word. The actor said in the Tarantino documentary, “QT8: The First Eight,” that there’s “no dishonesty in anything that [Quentin] writes or how people talk, feel, or speak [in his movies].”