"Former Journey singer Steve Perry has strongly denied allegations from US comedienne Sarah Silverman that he’s a racist.
In a recent Playboy interview the controversial Silverman claimed that “the one-time lead singer of a very popular band from the 1980s” said to her: “You’re my favourite comedian. You have the best nigger jokes.”
Although Silverman didn’t actually name Perry, she made very clear to whom she was referring by adding: “I’ll just say this: After that, I stopped believin’.” This was inevitably taken as a play on the classic Journey song Don’t Stop Believin’.
Now Perry has responded. Talking to Rolling Stone, he says: “I’m really shocked. She was so friendly and so nice. I don’t understand why she would go there, it’s so bizarre. I don’t use that word, are you kidding? That’s so derogatory.”
Perry’s recollection of the incident is as follows: “I walked up to her after the show and I said, ‘I can’t believe that somehow you seem to be getting away with all these slurs and the n-word, I just can’t believe how you’re doing this’, and I looked at my friend and I said, ‘I can’t believe how she’s getting away with this’, and she looked at me and kind of smiled.
“It wasn’t like I was condemning her or condoning her, it was just that I can’t believe how somehow creatively she was making everybody in that club of all colours and all ethnic backgrounds laugh. That’s what it was.”
"Former Journey singer Steve Perry has strongly denied allegations from US comedienne Sarah Silverman that he’s a racist.
In a recent Playboy interview the controversial Silverman claimed that “the one-time lead singer of a very popular band from the 1980s” said to her: “You’re my favourite comedian. You have the best nigger jokes.”
Although Silverman didn’t actually name Perry, she made very clear to whom she was referring by adding: “I’ll just say this: After that, I stopped believin’.” This was inevitably taken as a play on the classic Journey song Don’t Stop Believin’.
Now Perry has responded. Talking to Rolling Stone, he says: “I’m really shocked. She was so friendly and so nice. I don’t understand why she would go there, it’s so bizarre. I don’t use that word, are you kidding? That’s so derogatory.”
Perry’s recollection of the incident is as follows: “I walked up to her after the show and I said, ‘I can’t believe that somehow you seem to be getting away with all these slurs and the n-word, I just can’t believe how you’re doing this’, and I looked at my friend and I said, ‘I can’t believe how she’s getting away with this’, and she looked at me and kind of smiled.
“It wasn’t like I was condemning her or condoning her, it was just that I can’t believe how somehow creatively she was making everybody in that club of all colours and all ethnic backgrounds laugh. That’s what it was.”