Louder with Crowder - January 30, 2015


Kevin Costner Uses "N Word" || Louder With Crowder


Episode Stats

Length

5 minutes

Words per Minute

168.70589

Word Count

956

Sentence Count

100

Misogynist Sentences

1

Hate Speech Sentences

1


Summary

Kevin Costner says he's used the N-word many times in his life, and maybe a majority of Americans have never done the same. But what does that have to do with race? And why does it matter if it's used in a racist context?


Transcript

00:00:02.000 Let's run this clip of Kevin Costner because it was very surprising to me.
00:00:06.000 I hate to be one of those guys who ever latches on to a celebrity and says, he's a conservative.
00:00:11.000 But I think you'll like what Kevin Costner had to say on CNN about Ferguson and about race relations in America.
00:00:17.000 Fun dip.
00:00:18.000 Roll clip, please.
00:00:19.000 Well, it's not that I got there.
00:00:21.000 I mean, I grew up in a place called Compton.
00:00:24.000 When I say I grew up, that's a loose term.
00:00:25.000 I was there for the first eight years of my life.
00:00:29.000 So my extended family, my immediate family, I was very conscious of these words.
00:00:36.000 I don't ever remember them being said in anger.
00:00:38.000 I don't ever remember them being said.
00:00:39.000 But it doesn't mean they weren't arrogant.
00:00:41.000 It doesn't mean they weren't callous.
00:00:43.000 They weren't ignorant, if you will.
00:00:46.000 People's feelings.
00:00:48.000 So I saw it.
00:00:49.000 I used those words.
00:00:50.000 You've said the N-word?
00:00:52.000 Sure.
00:00:53.000 Multiple times.
00:00:54.000 You have said, anytime someone wants to shut a conversation down, you just invoke race.
00:01:00.000 It's not the only way you do it, but when you want to shut a conversation down, you also can walk away.
00:01:09.000 So, I think there's so much going on there that people will miss.
00:01:13.000 When he says, when Kevin Costner says, sure, I've used the N-word many times in my life, and it was when I was playing with other black athletes, and maybe a majority of Americans have never said it.
00:01:23.000 What he's saying is, screw you.
00:01:26.000 What he's saying is, screw you for trying to judge me on having ever used one word.
00:01:34.000 Because every single person in this country at some point, with the exception of, and I mean single-digit numbers, has said the N-word.
00:01:43.000 Everyone from my generation.
00:01:45.000 Anytime I sing along to hip-hop radio, which, by the way, I listen to a lot.
00:01:48.000 I know it surprises people.
00:01:50.000 You do not look like a hip-hop fan.
00:01:50.000 Kanye...
00:01:53.000 I don't look like a hip-hop fan.
00:01:55.000 You look like a Maple Leafs fan.
00:01:58.000 Kanye's College Dropout is one of my favorite albums.
00:02:02.000 Weird Science is another band I really love.
00:02:04.000 I love Kid Cudi.
00:02:06.000 I love hip-hop, okay?
00:02:08.000 So, to give you an idea, the deposition with Paula Deen, remember that?
00:02:15.000 Oh, yeah, yeah.
00:02:16.000 She was a baker or whatever?
00:02:18.000 Yeah, yeah.
00:02:19.000 Chubby baker looked like Ursula from Little Mermaid.
00:02:19.000 Cook?
00:02:22.000 That one.
00:02:23.000 She does.
00:02:26.000 She does.
00:02:27.000 She was asked, have you ever used the N-word?
00:02:30.000 That was the really big question, and she said yes.
00:02:33.000 And there were other things that went on, but she said yes.
00:02:36.000 Okay, Fundip, I want you to ask me, Stephen Crowder, if I've ever used the N-word.
00:02:41.000 Stephen Crowder, have you ever used the N-word?
00:02:45.000 Every single time I sing along to College Dropout, Kanye's arguably best album.
00:02:53.000 Every single time if I'm in my car.
00:02:56.000 I don't self-censor if I'm in my car singing along to a hip-hop artist because I know somewhere down the line someone can accuse me of being a racist.
00:03:07.000 Fundip, be honest.
00:03:08.000 At some point in your life, you've said that word at least once.
00:03:11.000 I'm Pat Martin's son, aren't I? But the point that Kevin Costner is making is you can't judge someone by one word without any kind of context.
00:03:26.000 Anyone in this country who wants to crucify someone for having...
00:03:30.000 By the way, if you go out there and you actually use the N-word in its proper racist context, kind of like Joe Biden did with Shylocks and the Jews...
00:03:38.000 I about fainted when I heard that.
00:03:40.000 He didn't even pause.
00:03:41.000 He just kept going right on through like it was just part of the everyday vernacular for Joe Biden.
00:03:47.000 I think it is.
00:03:48.000 I think it is.
00:03:50.000 I shouldn't say I don't doubt.
00:03:53.000 I wouldn't doubt Joe Biden being an actual anti-Semite.
00:03:58.000 But If you use the N-word in its proper racist context, yeah, that's a terrible thing.
00:04:05.000 It's a word that shouldn't be used, right?
00:04:07.000 I think that remembering the early 70s, where I first heard it most commonly used, was in the little...
00:04:17.000 It was almost like a nursery rhyme.
00:04:18.000 The kids would run around the neighborhood.
00:04:19.000 Daniel Boone was a man.
00:04:21.000 He was a big man.
00:04:22.000 But the bear was bigger, and so forth.
00:04:25.000 So he ran like up a tree.
00:04:27.000 And I had no idea at the time.
00:04:31.000 What it even meant.
00:04:32.000 What it was.
00:04:33.000 All I knew it was in that little song.
00:04:36.000 Yeah.
00:04:36.000 I'm like, what is that thing?
00:04:39.000 That's not a thing.
00:04:40.000 That's a person.
00:04:40.000 And I'm like, oh.
00:04:41.000 Right.
00:04:42.000 Let me tell you this.
00:04:43.000 I don't know how much time we have until the break, but we got a few minutes.
00:04:48.000 Okay, we got two minutes.
00:04:50.000 Yeah, by the way, everyone can see you, so these signals are no longer covert, so keep them clean.
00:04:57.000 Don't keep them.
00:04:57.000 It's the internet.
00:04:58.000 No one cares.
00:04:59.000 Hi, everybody.
00:05:00.000 Okay.
00:05:00.000 Okay.
00:05:03.000 I remember when I heard the N-word actually used.
00:05:06.000 In a racist way.
00:05:07.000 So I'm not talking about someone's, you know, she ain't messing with no broke.
00:05:12.000 I'm not talking about singing along to some song.
00:05:14.000 I'm talking about a guy using it where he was at a Bob Evans.
00:05:17.000 I was at a Bob Evans in Lynchburg, Virginia.
00:05:19.000 And he sat down and he said, you know, these filthy N-word.
00:05:23.000 And I remember my heart about stopped.
00:05:25.000 I couldn't believe that I had heard someone use that in that way.
00:05:29.000 And it made me realize just how rare it is.
00:05:32.000 It made me realize just how rare actual hardcore racism is.
00:05:38.000 We'll talk about it after the break.