With Lisa Lampanelli finding herself in hot water for using the world “nigga” in a tweet, the old “nigger” vs “nigga” debate is back in full effect.
The famous comedian tweeted a picture of herself with her new pal, Lena Dunham of the HBO show “Girls” having a fun night out together. While there was nothing controversial about the photo, the caption had the Twitterverse outraged.
“Me with my nigga @LenaDunham of @HBOGirls – I love this beyotch!!,” she wrote as the caption for the photo.
Fans may have been outraged, but Lampanelli found nothing wrong with the word even after she received the wave of backlash.
“The N-word ending in ‘er’ is far different context from the word ending in ‘a.’ Ask any person who knows the urban dictionary, it means ‘friend,’” Lampanelli said as she defended herself.
She went on to point out that even if she had used the “er” ending on the word, she was referring to her friend and it wouldn’t make any sense to be using degrading language against her.
To continue her defense against the angry Twitter users she explained that she uses the n-word and many other racial slurs during all her comedy shows, but it shouldn’t be seen as offensive because it’s all in the nature of good fun.
“I have always used in my act every racial slur there is for Asians, blacks, gays, and Hispanics,” she said. “To me, it’s acceptable if the joke is funny and if it is said in a context of no hate. It’s about taking the hate out of the word.”
One Huffington Post reader made it clear that she didn’t agree as she wrote:
“This woman who has never been in my position DARES to lecture me about the ‘urban dictionary?’ What experience does she bring to the matter of being despised in the land of her birth because of skin color? How many jobs and residences has she been denied because of her race in this ‘land of the free?’ How many times has she been stopped by cops, had her dwelling invaded and searched extralegally by those cops because she could not defend herself from them because of her color?… Her use of this expletive, regardless of the way she ends the word, is an abomination, and I would love to tell her to her face!”
Read more: PopularCritic
