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

“Smells Like Teen Spirit”

Nirvana | 1991

"Smells Like Teen Spirit," named after a brand of deodorant marketed to girls, was Kurt Cobain's attempt to "write the ultimate pop song," he said, using the soft-loud dynamic of his favorite band, the Pixies. Cobain "had that dichotomy of punk rage and alienation," the song’s producer, Butch Vig, told Rolling Stone, "but also this vulnerable pop sensibility. In 'Teen Spirit,' a lot of that vulnerability is in the tone of his voice." Sadly, by the time of Nirvana's last U.S. tour, in late '93, Cobain was tortured by the obligation to play "Teen Spirit" every night. "There are many other songs that I have written that are as good, if not better," he claimed.

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