Radio host says Roger Stone used 'the diet version of the n-word' on his show

Roger Stone.
(Image credit: Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)

During a live interview on The Mo'Kelly Show conducted Saturday night, political operative Roger Stone seemingly says about host Morris O'Kelly, "I don't feel like arguing with this Negro."

Stone called into the show, and at this point, it sounded like he muttered something about "arguing with this Negro." O'Kelly asked Stone to repeat himself, but he didn't say anything for about 40 seconds, acting as if he had lost connection. Stone then denied using the term, telling O'Kelly, "You're out of your mind."

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

In a text message to The New York Times on Sunday, Stone said that on the recording, "somebody can very clearly be heard using the alleged [epithet]" but "at no time did I call [O'Kelly] a Negro. That said, Mr. O'Kelly needs to spend a little more time studying Black history and institutions," as the word is "far from a slur." It was a commonly used term through the 1960s, but for the last several decades has been considered offensive.

Stone claimed that his sound feed was cut off three times, but O'Kelly told the Times there were no technical issues. The term Negro is "the diet version of the n-word, but as an African American man, it's something I deal with pretty frequently," O'Kelly said. "If there's a takeaway from the conversation, it is that Roger Stone gave an unvarnished look into what is in the heart of many Americans today."

Explore More
Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.