Jeffrey Wright reveals that a studio once tried to force him to censor the N-word
American actor Jeffrey Wright has revealed that when he appeared in 1999’s Ride With the Devil, the studio tried to censor his use of the N-word.
Wright’s character in Ang Lee’s drama was a former slave, and he was required to perform the lines, “‘Being that man’s friend was no more than being his n*****. And I will never again be anyone’s n*****.”
During an interview with Entertainment Weekly, the actor revealed that the scene marks “the apex of his [character’s] awakening and his need to emancipate himself.”
He added, “And it’s such a self-empowering statement and understanding of the word.”
Wright explained that the studio was “conflicted” about the marketing of the film and decided to make an “airplane version”. He shared: “They said, The [N-word] here, we’d like to change that to ‘negro’ or whatever the choice was. I said, ‘Nah. That’s not happening.'”
Finally, the studio got another actor in to censor the lines that Wright refused to dub himself. “They found some other actor to come in and do that one word, apparently, so that the airplane folk would be comfy in the darkness of their own ignorance around the language of race,” Wright continued.
Most recently, Wright has starred in American Fiction, which has been nominated for several Golden Globes and other prestigious accolades.
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