During a Q&A following a screening of his latest film "Green Book" on Wednesday (via THR), a film about racism in the 1960's, Viggo Mortensen answered a question by using the N-word. The actor was trying to describe how progress is being made in today’s climate. The gist of what he said was about how racism came in waves, saying “I’m gonna go off on a tangent here, but it’s important, and I don’t like saying the word, but, for instance, people don’t say n—– anymore.”
Boom. There go your Best Actor Oscar chances, Viggo.
Viggo will not win the Oscar he so finely deserves for his great performance in "Green Book." Absolutely no chance. Not just that, I think "Green Book," which I've predicted would win the Best Picture Oscar will now lose to "A Star Is Born." You can take it to the bank.
There’s a rule that most sane, white people must understand and live by. You cannot say the "N-word." It cannot be uttered, for if it is then you run the risk of being looked down on as a bigot and racist. I understand that as the word has a historic toxicity to it and that African-Americans are very sensitive to a white person saying it, but they are allowed to say it, it's part of their culture, it's a word you earn the right to use by living life being treated as a black person. For some black people, it's a way to reclaim the word.
Mortensen has been known, by all accounts, to be a thoughtful, well-liked person. I don't think he meant any harm in what he said, but he said it. He went there. Viggo has apologized (“I will not utter it again”), but the shadow of having used it publicly will now loom forever in his past and present, at least to some people.
He was only referencing the word, but he will not be forgiven because people have a tendency to not read the facts these days. He should have still not said it.
In a statement given to THR's Scott Feinberg and Gregg Kilday, Mortensen said the following: “In making the point that many people casually used the ‘N’ word at the time in which the movie’s story takes place, in 1962, I used the full word. Although my intention was to speak strongly against racism, I have no right to even imagine the hurt that is caused by hearing that word in any context, especially from a white man. I do not use the word in private or in public. I am very sorry that I did use the full word last night, and will not utter it again.”
Mortensen added, “One of the reasons I accepted the challenge of working on Peter Farrelly’s "Green Book" was to expose ignorance and prejudice in the hope that our movie’s story might help in some way to change people’s views and feelings regarding racial issues. It is a beautiful, profound movie story that I am very proud to be a part of.”
Film Independent member Dick Schulz, who attended the q & a stated: “It was all anyone was talking about when we left the theater. I was hearing everybody passing by me going up the stairs going, ‘That was crazy! Why did he say that? You cannot say that!’ And it’s sad because the movie is great. The irony is confounding, to be honest — it’s really shocking, and it was really shocking in the moment.”
According to Schulz, Viggo said, ‘I’m gonna go off on a tangent here, but it’s important, and I don’t like saying the word, but, for instance, people don’t say’ — and then he said the n word in its entirety — ‘anymore,’ and you could just feel the room immediately tense up. And the craziest thing was they had just talked about body language, so I felt like everyone was really attuned to body language, and everyone’s body language on the panel immediately tensed up.”
“I think that he immediately regretted it. He went on for I don’t know how long it was — it felt like an eternity after that, because everyone was waiting for the answer to end, but he was trying to steer the ship back to where he was trying to go.”