John Mayer apologizes for comments about black women, use of the n-word

John Mayer, it seems your “hood pass” has been revoked.

I posted earlier about a Playboy interview with John Mayer that was picked up and passed around heavily on Twitter and blogs today. Mayer doesn’t hold back on a variety of topics in the interview, but among the topics discussed were Mayer’s penchant for sex with white women only and the singer’s “hood pass,” as he dubs it.

On his sexual habits, Mayer doesn’t mince words:

I don’t think I open myself to it. My dick is sort of like a white supremacist. I’ve got a Benetton heart and a fuckin’ David Duke cock. I’m going to start dating separately from my dick.

That’s not all the guitar-balladeer has to say on the subject of race. Having worked with hip hop legends like Kanye West and Jay-Z, Mayer kind of thinks he’s “down” with the rap glitterati:

Someone asked me the other day, “What does it feel like now to have a hood pass?” And by the way, it’s sort of a contradiction in terms, because if you really had a hood pass, you could call it a nigger pass. Why are you pulling a punch and calling it a hood pass if you really have a hood pass? But I said, “I can’t really have a hood pass. I’ve never walked into a restaurant, asked for a table and been told, ‘We’re full.’”

Presumably, a large uncomfortable silence followed those remarks. Mayer, a prolific Tweeter, has taken to the microblogging service to clarify his intent and apologize, though judging by tweets coming fast and furiously from the rest of Twitter, he’s been unsuccessful in quelling outrage. Mayer says:

Re: using the ‘N word’ in an interview: I am sorry that I used the word. And it’s such a shame that I did because the point I was trying to make was in the exact opposite spirit of the word itself. It was arrogant of me to think I could intellectualize using it, because I realize that there’s no intellectualizing a word that is so emotionally charged.

And while I’m using today for looking at myself under harsh light, I think it’s time to stop trying to be so raw in interviews… It started as an attempt to not let the waves of criticism get to me, but it’s gotten out of hand and I’ve created somewhat of a monster. I wanted to be a blues guitar player. And a singer. And a songwriter. Not a shock jock. I don’t have the stomach for it.

Again, because I don’t want anyone to think I’m equivocating: I should have never said the word and I will never say it again.

So, Twitterers and John Mayer fans, are you still offended?