An old video from one of Pose star Sandra Bernhard’s stand-up specials is making the rounds on Twitter, offending those who watch it.
The video, posted by Twitter user @RadioLamb, comes from Bernhard’s 1998 comedy special I’m Still Here…Damn It!, in which she calls Mariah Carey the N-word, insinuates Carey is infiltrating African-American culture and degrades Black male rappers.
“And now [she’s] trying to backtrack on our asses, acing real n*****ish up there at the Royalton Hotel suite with Puff Daddy and all the greasy, chain-wearing Black men,” she said. “…’I got a little bit of Black in me, too. I didn’t tell you that,'” she continued, speaking as Carey in her joke.
Just a reminder that Nurse Judy from Pose called Mariah Carey a “n****er” and made fun of other black artist. pic.twitter.com/YDPK4ET0Dg
— Tre – Justice for Black Lives (@RadioLamb) August 7, 2020
Pose star Indya Moore responded to the video, writing, “Very hurtful, confusing, and disappointing.”
Very hurtful, confusing, And disappointing.
— #BreonnaTaylor (@IndyaMoore) August 7, 2020
The jokes Bernhard made about Carey caused the singer to take action against Bernhard, which she revealed in a magazine interview, reposted to Twitter.
“This is a woman that belongs to two groups that I do not belong to,” Carey said, referring to Bernhard being Jewish and lesbian. “If I’d ever said anything about those two groups, people would be picketing in the streets. And you know what? If I was two shades darker, there’d have been people protesting for me.” Carey said in the interview that she called the NAACP herself to lodge a complaint, removing Bernhard’s special from the airwaves.
This is a magazine interview excerpt where she mentioned it pic.twitter.com/kaSU0HfQVD
— Jess {fan acc} (@britneyxmariah) August 7, 2020
Bernhard has defended her use of the N-word in a 1998 New York Magazine interview promoting her comedy show. “I have carte blanche to use that word from my friend Paul Mooney,” she said. “I’m a card-carrying white-black girl. Plus, I have a huge Black following, so you know, it’s like a black person saying [n*****ish].”
She also talked about the joke in a 2006 Seattle Weekly interview while promoting her other comedy special, The Love Machine.
“I think anybody Black who comes to my shows gives me carte blanche to say that because I’m really coming from their place,” she said. “I’m not some cracker up there…It’s so obvious that I’m a part of that culture.”
She claimed that Carey and Carey’s manager took offense to the joke because of some supposed underlying truth embedded in the joke.
“They were just upset because supposedly she’s half-Black,” she said. “Then why are you upset?” she continued, addressing Carey in the interview. “I’m saying n*****ish like you would say it, honey. And sit’s also a comment on white people…Everybody laughed, so I must’ve hit a nerve.”
Bernhard has yet to make a new statement regarding the current backlash. In 2019 on Watch What Happens Live, she said she was on good terms with Carey.
READ MORE:
‘Pose’ Stars Speak Out Against Another Year Of Unjust Emmys Snubs For Acting
’81 Words’: ‘Pose’ Co-Creator Steven Canals Developing Gay Rights Activism Limited Series At FX
Photo: Getty Images