Ex-Journey Singer Steve Perry Denies Sarah Silverman's Claims About Racial Slur

In an interview with Playboy set to hit newsstands tomorrow, comedian Sarah Silverman responds to questions about her provocative brand of humor by telling a story about how "the onetime lead singer of a very popular band from the 1980s" came up to her after a show and said, "You're my favorite comedian. You have the best nigger jokes." Silverman didn't outright name Journey's Steve Perry, but she added, "I'll just say this: After that, I stopped believin'," a poke at the band's classic "Don't Stop Believin'."

Was she joking? In an interview with Rolling Stone yesterday, Perry took Silverman's accusation very seriously, adamantly denying he ever used "the n-word" after meeting her backstage at a comedy show. "I'm really shocked. She was so friendly and so nice," Perry tells RS. "I don't understand why she would go there, it's so bizarre. I don't use that word, are you kidding? That's so derogatory." Perry admits he met Silverman on a pair of occasions "a long time ago" after being "amazed at her ability to make people actually laugh at every racial slur and every ethnic group she could possibly come up with," but insists Silverman's recollection of their meeting is just another episode concocted by the controversial TV star for comedic effect.

Perry tells RS, "I walked up to her after the show and I said, 'I can't believe that somehow you seem to be getting away with all these slurs and the n-word, I just can't believe how you're doing this,' and I looked at my friend and I said, 'I can't believe how she's getting away with this,' and she looked at me and kind of smiled. It wasn't like I was condemning her or condoning her, it was just that I can't believe how somehow creatively she was making everybody in that club of all colors and all ethnic backgrounds laugh. That's what it was."

Despite the accusation, Perry still marvels at Silverman's ability to walk the dangerous line of political correctness with her comedy. "You've gotta see her show because she uses every ethnic slur known to man that historically has been very unforgivable," Perry says. "I'm Portuguese, that's the only ethnic background she left out, but maybe after this article she'll come after me now."

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Song Stories

“Alison”

Elvis Costello | 1977

On Elvis Costello’s country-tinged ballad, the lyric does not get too sentimental in recalling an ex who had since been with one of the singer's "little friends" and is now married. Some believe the song is about murder, due to lines like “Sometimes I wish that I could stop you from talking,” "Somebody better put out the big light" and, of course, "My aim is true,” which became the title of Costello's debut album. In 2002, Costello told Rolling Stone, “It isn’t [about murder]. It’s about disappointing somebody. It’s a thin line between love and hate, as the Persuaders sang.”

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