In his interview with Playboy, John Mayer said a number of disturbing things: that Jessica Simpson is the sexual equivalent of crack and napalm; that his penis is a white supremacist; and last, but certainly not least, that he has his very own “nigger pass.” He said it, not me.
MAYER: Black people love me. Someone asked me the other day, “What does it feel like now to have a hood pass?” And by the way, it’s sort of a contradiction in terms, because if you really had a hood pass, you could call it a nigger pass. Why are you pulling a punch and calling it a hood pass if you really have a hood pass? But I said, “I can’t really have a hood pass. I’ve never walked into a restaurant, asked for a table and been told, ‘We’re full.’” Not to say that my struggle is like the collective struggle of black America. But maybe my struggle is similar to one black dude’s.
PLAYBOY: Do black women throw themselves at you?
MAYER: I don’t think I open myself to it. My dick is sort of like a white supremacist. I’ve got a Benetton heart and a fuckin’ David Duke cock. I’m going to start dating separately from my dick.
And after giving his publicist a round of severe heart palpitations and stomach uclers, John decided he might have overstepped his bounds in the interview. He tweeted yesterday
Re: using the ‘N word’ in an interview: I am sorry that I used the word. And it’s such a shame that I did because the point I was trying to make was in the exact opposite spirit of the word itself. It was arrogant of me to think I could intellectualize using it, because I realize that there’s no intellectualizing a word that is so emotionally charged.
And while I’m using today for looking at myself under harsh light, I think it’s time to stop trying to be so raw in interviews… It started as an attempt to not let the waves of criticism get to me, but it’s gotten out of hand and I’ve created somewhat of a monster. I wanted to be a blues guitar player. And a singer. And a songwriter. Not a shock jock. I don’t have the stomach for it. Again, because I don’t want anyone to think I’m equivocating: I should have never said the word and I will never say it again.
Ah, John Mayer! Putting the “twit” back in “twitter.” But as much as I hate to admit it, he’s right, you know. You can’t intellectualize that word. It’s simply too lèse majesté for American taste. Now, “porch monkey” or “spear chucker” you could intellectualize the hell out of. It’s all about choosing the right racial slurs in your public forum.
Apologizing at his show in Nashville last night:
