To reader and friend Walt Bennett…this is just for you. Mo’Kelly rests his case.
Peete was interviewed by People magazine regarding John Mayer, and the former Hangin’ With Mr. Cooper star says she’s still waiting for an apology from him.
Q: Would you have been so flattered by John Mayer stating you’re “gorgeous” if you’d read what he said in the rest of the interview?
A: The answer is no. I would never have been as flattered. As a matter of fact, it went from a compliment to being an insult. That anyone would think that I would be so giddy about this young man’s compliment that I would compromise my integrity as an African American woman is the most disturbing part for me. I foolishly and impulsively commented (to E!) on a sound bite from an interview that was sent to me by a girlfriend and I didn’t know the context at all. … Clearly, after I understood how John Mayer’s comments were bookended by racial insensitivities and this racially charged, rambling diatribe that denigrated black women, it became a whole other animal.
Q: How do you feel about what Mayer said?
A: I was disgusted and offended. Especially when I started reading his surrounding comments. In the whole body of the article, there wasn’t anything that wasn’t offensive. … It was beyond inappropriate. It’s crucial for African American women to understand that I would never knowingly gush about such a compliment had I had any clue that it was bookended by these racially denigrating comments about black women. I feel disgusted by it. I went from flattered to flat-out pissed.
Q: Do you feel John Mayer is a racist?
A: Is it possible to say something racially charged, bigoted and flat out ignorant and not be a racist person? That’s the question. My impression is that it’s possible, but I want to make it clear that this guy has some major issues to sort through and a whole lot of apologies to make. I heard some apologies about the N-word, and I’ve seen him crying, which seemed sincere. But I don’t know if he understands how much he hurt black women’s feelings.
Q: Has he reached out to you to apologize?
A: He was very remorseful about the fact that I was inadvertently tangled up into this mess. He reached out to me via email. … He did not apologize for his comments. … At this point, it doesn’t feel right for me to totally accept his apology. It’s time for him to really just drop the frat boy act and take responsibility for everything that he said, no matter how painful it’s going to be for him.
[Stay tuned…the new mrmokelly.com website is coming to you in 2010. Set your browsers now.]
13 responses to “Holly Robinson Peete Lights Up John Mayer”
Mo,
I agree with almost everything she said, and said so earlier today in the previous JM thread.
She slowed down on the "racist" part and stated more strongly that he has issues to sort through.
I agree and more importantly, JM agrees.
I believe he will go through this.
As I said, I can sincerely relate. We all say flat-out dumb shit sometimes.
And I am always willing to have a discussion regarding the nuances between ignorance, insensitivity, passive racism, active racism, confusion, misunderstanding, misinterpretation and flat-out hatred.
In fact, quite often in these discussions, that's what I'm pleading for, attention to nuance.
For as much as Mo insists that certain things are just completely inexcusable, they don't all come from the same place, which is a crucial thing to understand in order to determine who and what you're dealing with, and in order to determine what the lesson is and how it is best applied.
Or to be more blunt: You know some input from white folk about what another white folk might have meant when he shot his mouth off. It's just possible that you see the white experience a little flatter than is called for.
And we won't know til we talk about it.
"Or to be more blunt: You know some input from white folk" should read "Or to be more blunt: You need some input from white folk"
And by the way, I get every impression from her comments that she is distancing herself from what JM said but not from JM the person.
Sounds like she cares enough to encourage him to do the right thing, instead of just flicking him out of her life.
That's important.
I read nothing of the sort. You're scraping the bottom of the minutia barrel here. She didn't need to kill John Mayer the person, just the remarks. And by all means, he was flicked out of her life. She's not going to publicly destroy him but this is about as close as it gets.
We disagree.
You're amuckraker in the "fiset" "journalistic" tradition.
Did you change that lying headline yet?
"fisest" = "finest"
There is nothing more that Holly could have said or done. I'm sorry that she was dragged into this nonsense.
I found this interview with Mrs. Peete very insightful!! Oce again, great post! Still trying to figure out why Walt is trolling through here…since he seems to be opposed to everything that Mo' posts.
I am perplexed myself at the "perspective" Mr. Bennett has brought to this blog. Methinks he must align with all the black 'men' who let JM think he had a pass to the motherland. JM's comment fits quite well with the special comment made by Keith Olbermann tonight. We have a lot of work to do, and the black culture, even more so.
Mr. Kelly, your comment was on point. Holly is a professional and a Christian, if she wouldn't kill her 'arch enemy' Robin with her tongue, I would not think she would act differently with JM.
It is times like these that I have to tone down my grandaddy's voice telling me his philosophy on white people. I also hear Madea saying: When someone shows you who they are……..believe them.
Well spoken T. Dorsey!!!
I agree with granddaddy and Madea.
Completely.
We should always try to see people as they truly are.
We should allow ourselves room to grow in that regard. None of us is blessed with Divine Wisdom.
I would also like to thank T. Dorsey for bringing Olbermann's "Special (because he said do) Comment".
I found it mostly disgusting.
I think I'll take a pass on having Mr. Olbermann tell me about myself.
I'm quite angry enough to blog about it, coming soon.