Richard Pryor ‘Blessed’ the N-Word, According to Mel Brooks
Scott Saul’s Becoming Richard Pryor details how crucial the standup comedian and budding movie star was to the writing of Blazing Saddles. The film has five credited screenwriters, including Brooks and Pryor, and one of the writers, Andrew Bergman, is quoted saying in the book:
“If you have three Jews in a room, you’re going to be very skittish about writing jokes about a Black man — what’s permissible, what isn’t permissible… Richie gave us license, which was an enormous gift.
Brooks added: “I said, ‘I can’t say the N-word. I need him — he has to bless it. I need a Black guy to bless that word.”
Brooks said on the 40th anniversary Blu-ray release of the film in 2014: “When I thought it was getting to be too much, Richard said, ‘No, we are writing a story of racial prejudice. That’s the word, the only word. It’s profound, it’s real, and the more we use it from the rednecks, the more the victory of the black sheriff will resonate.'”
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