- “I can’t believe I’m arguing with this Negro,” Stone blurted out. Negro was the word used to describe black slaves
- Host Morris O’Kelly grilled friend of Donald Trump on his conviction for lying
The Associated Press
In an interview on Saturday, July 18 with Los Angeles-based radio host Morris O’Kelly, longtime Donald Trump friend Roger Stone used a racial slur. Stone, who had his 40-month prison sentence for lying to Congress commuted by Trump, denies saying the word. (Manuel Balce Ceneta/The Associated Press)
Roger Stone, a political operative whose 40-month prison sentence was commuted this month by President Donald Trump, his longtime friend, used a racial slur on air while verbally sparring with a Los Angeles-based Black radio host.
The exchange occurred on Saturday’s Mo’Kelly Show, whose host — Morris O’Kelly — grilled Stone on his conviction for lying to Congress, tampering with witnesses and obstructing the House investigation into whether Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia to win the 2016 election.
The first part of Stone’s statement was not entirely audible, but the radio program transcribed the complete sentence as, “I can’t believe I’m arguing with this Negro.”
O’Kelly on his program’s website said “Stone could have reached for any pejorative, but unfortunately went there,” adding that “Stone offered an unfiltered, unvarnished one-sentence expression of how he saw the journalist interviewing him.”
He characterized the word as the “low-calorie version of the N-Word.”
Stone’s attorney on Sunday said he was unaware of the broadcast and had no immediate comment.
Stone was sentenced to 40 months in prison, but Trump commuted that sentence on July 10 — just days before Stone was to report for detention.
The exchange
As O’Kelly asserted that Stone’s commutation was because of his friendship with Trump, Stone’s voice goes faint but can be heard uttering that he was “arguing with this Negro.”
O’Kelly then asks Stone to repeat the comment, but Stone goes momentarily silent.
O’Kelly persisted on having Stone respond.
“I’m sorry you’re arguing with whom? I thought we were just having a spirited conversation. What happened?” O’Kelly said. “You said something about ‘Negro.”‘
Stone said he had not. “You’re out of your mind,” he said.
The interview then continued.
In a statement, Stone defended himself by saying that anyone familiar with him “knows I despise racism!”
“Mr. O’Kelly needs a good peroxide cleaning of the wax in his ears,” Stone said, maintaining that at “no time” did he use the word, using lowercase for the term.
“That said, Mr. O’Kelly needs to spend a little more time studying black history and institutions,” he said, arguing the word “is far from a slur.”
He cited the United Negro College Fund and the historical use of the word.
At one time the term was common in the American vernacular to describe African Americans. By the late 1960s, however, the word was scorned by activists in favour of such descriptors as Black.
These days, the antiquated word is widely viewed as derogatory in most uses.
In his statement, Stone noted that some of the program’s audio was garbled and alleged that there was cross-talk from another radio show and that his sound was cut off.
During the program, Stone said the president acted out of compassion and that the jury that weighed his case was tainted.
Roger Stone was sentenced in February to three years and four months in prison for lying to Congress, witness tampering and obstructing the House investigation into whether the U.S. president’s campaign colluded with Russia to win the 2016 election. 4:07
“I did not get a fair trial,” Stone said.
“My life was in imminent danger,” Stone said, saying he was at risk of being infected by the coronavirus in prison. “I think the president did this as an act of compassion. He did it as an act of mercy.
