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I have to give HUGE props to Media_Justice for dropping the news about John Mayer in her latest post ( I also borrowed the awesome video from her as well) . It was the first time I had heard about John's screamingly racist remarks in a Playboy Interview about African-American women (not to mention his very misogynistic words about Jessica Simpson).
So for those of you (like me) who were not very familiar with John Mayer, he is a young musician that has been in the news recently not only for his music but also for his personal life. Besides just dating other celebrities, he also finds time to do collaborations with Blues guitar legend B.B. King and perform at Michael Jackson's Memorial. It seems that these connections with the black community as well as other collaborations that he has done with Dave Chappelle, Jay Z and other African-American celebrities may have caused him to think he had a free pass to say whatever he wanted about the black community.
And he did. He felt free to call his collaborations with black people a "n**ger" pass, claim that his penis associates with a famous KKK klansman and that Kerri Washington as a black woman would easily perform oral sex on him and also act "white girl crazy":
MAYER: 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 n***er 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.’"All of that plus his really repulsive comments about the white women he dated both in the Playboy interview and the Rolling Stones interview really does make you wonder about him. Could a personall really utter such racist and misogynist remarks while also writing certain songs like Daughters that seemed almost feminist?
PLAYBOY: It is true; a lot of rappers love you. You recorded with Common and Kanye West, played live with Jay-Z.
MAYER: What is being black? It’s making the most of your life, not taking a single moment for granted. Taking something that’s seen as a struggle and making it work for you, or you’ll die inside. 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 d**k is sort of like a white supremacist. I’ve got a Benetton heart and a f**kin’ David Duke c**k. I’m going to start dating separately from my d**k.
PLAYBOY: Let’s put some names out there. Let’s get specific.
MAYER: I always thought Holly Robinson Peete was gorgeous. Every white dude loved Hilary from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. And Kerry Washington. She’s superhot, and she’s also white-girl crazy. Kerry Washington would break your heart like a white girl. Just all of a sudden she’d be like, “Yeah, I sucked his d**k. Whatever.” And you’d be like, “What? We weren’t talking about that.” That’s what “Heartbreak Warfare” is all about, when a girl uses jealousy as a tactic.
I am not sure and I since I honestly do not know John Mayer outside of these remarks I kind of want to take his comments and bring them to a broader light. I feel like his comments just reflect a larger problem in our society of hypersexualizing women of color, not only black women. Think of the fetish perpetuated against East Asian women or the misogyny against black and latino women in hip hop, reggaton, etc (which is often perpretrated by black men and latino men).
It sucks because I feel like as women of color we do not really ever get the chance to speak up for ourselves about these isssues because our vioces are often ignored or ridiculed. I am not expecting Kerri Washington to speak up after this incident but I am wondering how she feels about the whole thing? She has basically just been used as a punchline to John Mayer's joke and I bet that hurts and is probably also infuriating. The double punch in this comment is not just racist against John Mayer's thoughts about black women and their sexuality but also about his sexism against women in general and his objectification of them.
However, I agree with one article that I read about this whole debacle in Newsweek.com where the author basically just points the finger back at our society. She talks about how women of color are often left out of the mainstream conceptions of beauty and that if more white men were honest they would have opinions very similar to that of John Mayer. She says:
And if you think its only old white guys behind desks that have these preconceived notions, that is not true at all. A recent email has been leaked from University of California San Diego (I am assuming that this email is credible because its on a University of California San Diego department of Social Sciences website and has a facebook group!) that depicts another deragotory description of black women:Sadly, even though an initial public outrage had Mayer apologizing via his Twitter account and found him crying on stage during an apology, my guess is Mayer will suffer little for his comments. And the reason is very simple. He clearly said out loud what a large majority of mainstream men in power feel in private. I'm referring to those invisible men in the corner offices with the influence and power to put women in movies, on magazine covers, and television shows. The ones who decide what beauty looks like, how much it weighs, and what age it should be. The ones who, just like John Mayer, have deemed black women as just not good enough.
Sure, Beyoncé gets her due attention as does Rihanna, but one has only to look at the most recent Vanity Fair magazine cover to see what a lot of America really thinks of the combination of beauty and brown skin. There isn't a darker hue to be found, not even in the fold. Earlier this year, pictures altered to fuse first lady Michelle Obama's face with an ape flooded the Internet, while actor Scott Baio posted on picture of the first lady with a frown on her face and a caption asking if this was what President Obama had to wake up to every morning
>> From: [Name deleted]
>> Date: Tue, 16 Feb 2010 08:12:37 -0800
>> To: undisclosed-recipients:;<Invalid address>
>> Subject: UCSD Fraternity throws a racist party "in honor of Black
>> History Month"
>>
>> Hey All!
>>
>> I hate to ruin the weekend you all have had but, this needs to be
>> addressed. Please read &spread:
>>
>> Yesterday, members of UC San Diego's IFC mostly PIKE Fraternity
>> threw a house party in honor of Black History Month. The
>> description of the party is below.
>>
>> ------
>> Invitation details for a WHITE frat's "celebration" of Black
>> History Month:
....
For girls: For those of you who are unfamiliar with ghetto chicks-
>> Ghetto chicks usually have gold teeth, start fights and drama, and
>> wear cheap clothes - they consider Baby Phat to be high class and
>> expensive couture. They also have short, nappy hair, and usually
>> wear cheap weave, usually in bad colors, such as purple or bright
>> red.
>> They look and act similar to Shenaynay, and speak very loudly,
>> while rolling their neck, and waving their finger in your face.
>> Ghetto chicks have a very limited vocabulary, and attempt to make
>> up for it, by forming new words, such as "constipulated", or simply
>> cursing persistently, or using other types of vulgarities, and
>> making noises, such as "hmmg!", or smacking their lips, and making
>> other angry noises,grunts, and faces.
>> The objective is for all you lovely ladies to look, act, and
>> essentially take on these "respectable" qualities throughout the day.
>>
>> Several of the regents condos will be teaming up to house this
>> monstrosity, so travel house to house and experience the various
>> elements of life in the ghetto.
>>
>> We will be serving 40's, Kegs of Natty, dat Purple Drank- which
>> consists of sugar, water, and the color purple , chicken, coolade,
>> and of course Watermelon. So come one and come all, make ya self
>> before we break ya self, keep strapped, get yo shine on, and join
>> us for a day party to be remembered- or not....
And also- that's what Heartbreak Warfare is about? Damn. I feel like I have to stop liking it now.