On a recent episode of “The Hall of Fame with Booker T and Brad Gilmore,” WWE Hall of Famer Booker T looked back on the infamous promo in which he used the N-Word. In hindsight, Booker T said he wishes he could take it back because he felt like he let his fans down.
“I’m not fond of it or anything like that, but I don’t shy away from it,” said Booker T. “I don’t run from it or anything like that. Because I talk to young people about this all the time, you know, you gotta know how to change your levels, no matter where you at, you gotta know how to change your levels.
“You gotta know how to play the part, you gotta know how to become the part. And for the longest in professional wrestling, a guy told me a long time ago, you gotta be a champion in the ring as well as out of the ring, you know, all the time. And you gotta represent, and I took that to heart. But there again, you gotta understand, I’m from the neighborhood, I’m from the ‘hood. And when I’m around, back then at least, when I was a kid, younger, when I was around my friends, I would say things like that, the N-word, and it was just a word that we used on the regular. As I got older, and I started realizing what I was doing, as far as being responsible for young people that look up to me.”
Booker T explained that the word slipped out because he got lost in the heat of the promo.
“I was getting hot,” said Booker T. “You could tell, I was like a Baptist preacher, you know what I mean. And then it came out, and I was like, ‘Oh my God, what am I doing here? Let me back up for a second.’ Because there again, I never wanted those people to see me in that light. I never wanted those people to hear me use that term because there again, my belief is, if I use that term, if I’m saying it, what gives me the right to tell them they can’t say it? So I just felt like I let a lot of people down that looked up to me, and I did not want them to think that that was something that was okay….I wished I could take it back.”
The full clip is available here:
