I met Paul Mooney once.

I was working as the Executive Editor at Complex Magazine and we had seen early screeners of Chappelle’s Show which Editor-in-Chief Jimmy Jellenik and I realized was going to be a phenomenal hit, the likes of which we hadn’t seen in our lives,  so I got to work at locking as much of the talent on the show as possible including Chappelle for the cover.

After reaching out to Mooney’s agent, I received a curious response from them, Mooney wanted to meet with me personally about the matter and if possible that night. I was asked if I could meet him at The Laugh Factory in midtown at 2:30 AM.

I was anxious. Mooney had a masterful way of making white people uncomfortable with his humor and his intellect was as razor sharp  as his witty barbs.

I arrived a half an  hour early so I could see his bit and afterwards someone came to bring me backstage to meet Mooney. He said “so you’re the white boy who wants to interview me.”

He asked me about the magazine, what were some of the other stories we were tackling, and after listening to my pitch, paused and said he’d love to do the interview.

For a moment I was ecstatic.

Then he added only that it was contingent on him being on the cover.

We never did the interview.

Mooney was performing regularly at the venue and often be the last performer.

To say that Mooney’s impact on American comedy, let alone Black American comedy was indelible is without question.

“If you knew Mr. Pryor’s work, you probably knew Mr. Mooney’s words. The two worked together on the short-lived 1977 variety series The Richard Pryor Show;  Pryor’s Place (1984), Mr. Pryor’s unlikely attempt at a children’s show; television specials; the album and film Richard Pryor: Live on the Sunset Strip (1982); the autobiographical film Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling (1986), which Mr. Pryor starred in and directed; and Mr. Pryor’s 1975 appearance as host on Saturday Night Live. That episode included a now-famous escalating-racial-insults job-interview sketch with Chevy Chase, written by Mr. Mooney.” From Mooney’s obituary in the New York Times.

In an interview with The New York Times after Mr. Pryor’s death in 2005 at 65, Mr. Mooney described himself as Mr. Pryor’s “Black writer.”

Mooney’s work on both In Living Color and Chappelle’s Show would have enshrined his legendary status alone.

Chappelle, talking to NPR last week said Mooney “the best that ever was.”

“The Black man in America is the most copied man on this planet bar none. Everybody wanna be a nigga, but nobody wanna be a nigga, howabout that question?”

Rest Easy Brother! #Legend #PaulMooney pic.twitter.com/KDUxuknjiO

— Eddie Griffin (@EddieGriffinCom) May 19, 2021

Mooney wrote some of the most important American Black comedy in history.

Paul Mooney’s writing was untouchable and he wrote for the best! ????????

Rip Paul Mooney. pic.twitter.com/dveWTv53zs

— DJ POOH (@DJPooh) May 19, 2021

“All comedians who believe they can’t say anything, remember Paul Mooney sacrificed stardom so he could say everything,” Dave Chappelle  said with goddamn accuracy.

“All comedians who believe they can’t say anything, remember Paul Mooney sacrificed stardom so he could say everything.” – Dave Chappelle with the god damn accuracy

— Marcella Arguello (@marcellacomedy) May 19, 2021

Thanks for always keeping it real, Lenny Kravitz wrote.

Paul Mooney. Thank you for always keeping it real. #RIP

????: Michael Ochs Archives / Getty Images pic.twitter.com/KCxu2aUy1s

— Lenny Kravitz (@LennyKravitz) May 19, 2021

But what if he didn’t keep it real? What if the one thing that he held back precluded Mooney from becoming the greatest entertainer ever.

Beginning in the summer of 2019 when allegations emerged that comedian Richard Pryor wanted to kill Mooney after he had sexually assaulted his son, Richard Pryor Jr., as teenager, the press around Mooney was initially eerily quiet in the era of #MeToo.

The bombshell allegation according to Rashon Kahn, Pryor’s ex-bodyguard and author of a new book reportedly titled, Everything Wasn’t Funny, was the whistleblower, describing to Comedy Hype how Pryor put a hit out on the Louisiana native for $1 million after learning of the alleged assault.

Richard Pryor wanted to have Paul Mooney killed for sleeping with his son Richard Pryor Jr. According to Richard Pryor’s bodyguard Richard Pryor Jr was a little boy at the time. Wow. Wow.

Richard Pryor wanted to have Paul Mooney killed for sleeping with his son Richard Pryor Jr. According to Richard Pryor’s bodyguard Richard Pryor Jr was a little boy at the time. Wow. Wow. pic.twitter.com/5BiroegmyA

— Houston Sports Fan on IR???????? ???????? (@mccauley713) August 26, 2019

It was disturbing on a number of levels. One was the accusation itself and two was that it completely destroyed a narrative of their closeness. Mooney and Pryor were longtime collaborators and great friends, and it could be argued that Mooney wrote much of what is regarded as Pryor’s oeuvre..

At any rate,  TMZ, reported at the time, “Paul Mooney isn’t leaping at the opportunity to show his face in public after being accused of misconduct with Richard Pryor Jr.—he comic just pulled out of a show—and we’re told he’ll be taking the next few weeks off.”

Mooney was set to take the stage Wednesday in Atlanta at the ATL Comedy Theater, where he was serving as the MC for the night in a long lineup of comedians. But, a sign outside the venue made it clear … PM wasn’t going to show.

 

A rep for Paul tells us the allegations recently made by Richard Pryor’s former bodyguard have seriously stressed Mooney out … and he needs to lay low for awhile. We’re told he’ll be canceling all of his scheduled appearances in the next few weeks until things simmer down. TMZ

The story emerged when  an interview excerpt was posted to YouTube showing the ex-bodyguard of Richard Pryor alleging that the late comedian offered $1 million for someone to kill Paul Mooney for sleeping with Pryor’s son, Richard Jr.”

That bodyguard, Rashon Kahn, is the writer of an upcoming book called Everything Wasn’t Funny, and he shared a rather dark anecdote which he claims was the reason that Pryor and Mooney’s professional relationship and friendship ended. For those unaware Mooney, who still performs to this day, previously co-wrote material for Pryor, and was also the head writer for The Richard Pryor Show.

 

When asked about their relationship around the time of Pryor’s death in 2005, Kahn alleged that at that point it’d been bad for nearly two decades. “From Jo Jo Dancer [1986] on their relationship became fragile because Paul Mooney had f*cked Richard’s son by that time,” Kahn said. At that point he states that Mooney “violated” Richard which appears to have led several media outlets to inaccurately report that whatever went on between the two was rape, though what Kahn appears to mean is Pryor’s trust because, again, Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life is Calling came out in ’86, and Richard Jr. was born in 1962.

 

“So from there on, whatever Paul Mooney was to Richard, and there was a time when Paul Mooney was Richard’s friend (…) so when Paul did what he did it was a violation of friendship, first, and then my son,” Kahn continued. “And in some circles that’s supposed to be dealt with.”

When asked by the interviewer if the subject of retaliation was ever brought up, Kahn replied in the affirmative and stated that it was “to the extent that Richard didn’t want [Mooney] on the planet anymore.”

According to Vibe, “The younger Pryor, now 58 years old, confirmed the story but did not name Mooney. “Whatever happened in my life, it happened when I was young. Way before the ‘80s,” he told TMZ earlier in the week. When asked if the sexual relationship was “consensual” Pryor Jr. replied, “How can any relationship be consensual if I was a teenager?”

He added, “I really have nothing to say at all about the situation.”

Jennifer Lee Pryor, Richard’s widow, confirmed the details of the story on Twitter back in September of 2019. Something did happen. But the takeaway here is not to criticize or condemn Mooney.

Paul’s sons Dwayne and Daryl Mooney talked with Comedy Hype and  were clearly uncomfortable with some of the questions, but they ultimately agreed they don’t think it would have mattered. They also maintain that his marriage to their mother and dalliances with other women didn’t line up with this other competing narrative.

And by all accounts Mooney had a darkness that he wrestled with too, as well strong opinions about himself. In his 2015 memoir, Black is the New White, he said: “Whatever that thing is that white people like in Blacks, I don’t have it. Maybe it’s my arrogance or my self-assurance or the way I carry myself, but whatever it is, I don’t have it.”

Coming out as Black in America is fraught in away it is not for many white gay men.

But Kahn’s observation suggests a far more enlightened understanding when he said, “I think if Paul Mooney would come out  what the like the gay folks say come out of the closet like gays say, then he would be one of the top comedians  it’s his hiding in the closet like he’s not, because when people see Paul’s performance they hear what he’s saying but they’re seeing there’s something else there, like ooh, baby.”

The question resonates because it has power, some aura that is perhaps what Kahn meant when he said we’re seeing something else there.

Ohh baby, indeed.

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