Earlier this week during The View‘s “Hot Topics” segment, a discussion about how Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry has a rock outside his family’s hunting lodge that has the word “N**gerhead” printed on it (REALLY?!?) led to another debate about the general issue over use of the “N-Word.”
And as with any debate on The View, things heated up pretty quickly, with Sherri strongly disagreeing with Barbara Walters‘ use of the word in the middle of the discussion.
Whoopi Goldberg first used the word while quoting presidential candidate Hermain Cain, and Walters repeated it in context of their conversation, telling her co-hosts, “It’s very hard for me to say. … The fact that I just said it now gives me chills.”
When Walters let the word finally come out of her mouth, Sherri Shepherd, who has in the past shared how she’s been the victim of racially-motivated bullying, expressed how she was offended.
“I didn’t like the way you said it,” Shepherd told her co-host. “I don’t know if it’s a semantics thing, but it’s something that goes through my body.”
Shepherd told Goldberg, “When I heard you say it, it was fine. You said it a different way,” which prompted Walters to ask Shepherd point-blank if she took offense to the use of her using the word was because Walters was white.
“Yeah, it’s something about hearing you say it,” Shepherd said. “I don’t like it when you use the word. … When you say it, it’s a different connotation.”
Watch below:
What do you think? Was Barbara Walters wrong for using the N-Word … and should anyone be able to use it, as long as they’re not being racist with it? DISCUSS!!!
