Mooney, Dolemite say no to N-word

by Brian McKim & Traci Skene on November 30th, 2006

Legendary comic Rudy Ray Moore (aka “Dolemite”) has sent out a myspace bulletin urging all comedians to cease use of the N-word.

I would like to send a message to everyone regarding the N word
I can remember when I myself, Rudy Ray Moore used to use that word. In the days it was quite popular, we used it towards each other all the time.

As time passed though, I felt it to be more and more of an embarrasment. I stopped using it, I was one of the fore runners, and my act never suffered one bit.

I convinced the late great Richard Pryor to abandon it’s use and came behind him and applauded him publicly when he did. Paul Mooney has recently announced that he will no longer use it either.

I commend him for it and wish to call on everyone else to follow

With Love,
Rudy Ray Moore aka Dolemite

In a related item, Paul Mooney is interviewed by the San Jose Merc-News on the Richards meltdown and on his crusade to eradicate the use of the N-word.

Oh yeah. I had a romance with the word. I worked with Richard Pryor using the word. It was so destructive– it was created by whites to hurt and destroy– and we were trying to defuse it, trying to desensitize people to it. We did it every chance we got, we would drive people crazy. We were very funny at it. But Richard backed off the word in the early 1980s…

If Pryor’s proclamation had no effect on the frequency of usage, what hope do Moore and Mooney have of reducing it?

It will be interesting to see what happens. We’re especially keen on finding out what Russel Simmons thinks about this. And, with two more episodes of “The Wire” in the can (but not yet shown on HBO), it would be fascinating to hear what David Simon (Executive Producer) thinks about this controversy.

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