Lots of fuss over literature this week.
Roger Ebert had to backpedal on his Twitter today after a controversial remark landed him in trouble with some of his followers.
Roger took a moment to comment on the newly announced reprinting of Mark Twain’s classic tale, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
The film critic responded to the controversy about the N-word being censored in the book, by tweeting, “I’d rather be called a N—- than a slave.”
The backlash was swift and soon, hundreds of people flooded Twitter with comments, insisting Roger didn’t have the right to use such a phrase because he has and will never be labeled that in his life. Seeing the error of his ways, perhaps with some help from his African-American wife Chaz Hammelsmith Ebert, Roger followed up his comment with this:
“I’ll never be called a N—– *or* a Slave, So I should have shut the **** up.”
Or just use steer clear of all derogatory phrases, you know, just on principle. We know he didn’t mean any harm by it, but some words have the power to do a lot of damage to a lot of people. We trust he sees that now.
[Image via WENN.]