There's a lot of things I used to say both in my personal and professional life that I find embarrassing and I'm ashamed of and I'm dead honest about that. Stuff like the word "faggot;" on my first DVD, I use it a lot, I use the n-word because I'm telling a story and it's in a context that, to me, is not offensive. A lot of black people and gay people have said they're not offended by it at all because it's funny, but I look back and judge it on my own... I think we live in a more enlightened generation now and, absolutely, I think twice before I say things. If someone came to me and told me that something I said caused some kid to commit suicide, I'd be in a nuthouse for the rest of my life, I really would. I don't think of myself as a bigoted, mean person, I think of myself as trying to be funny and I always had an attitude where "as long as it's funny, it's not offensive" and a lot of great comics think that. I think we're living in a more enlightened time now where you should think twice about certain things because, ultimately, you're talking about people... I still am proud of a lot of my work but I certainly wouldn't do some of the things that I used to do. Now if some people don't want to accept that and don't want to forgive me for stuff that I might've said before, I promise you it wasn't done hate, but that's your prerogative and I'm not going to argue with you, you're entitled to that opinion. But the kid asked a good question: I certainly think twice about it, I know a lot of comics that do, just about language in general. I was always somebody coming from a blue collar neighborhood and I never went to college and I worked on the port as a longshoreman where those words were thrown around like crazy and I always consider myself having a thick skin. But you get older and you hopefully get more compassionate. Look, I still make jokes about every group of people that there are, I'm not going to be a hypocrite, here. But there's things, like, in "It's The Whisky Talkin'", two guys get up from their chairs to go to the bathroom, and I'm drunk by the end of that, and I said "where are you going, faggots?" It gets a huge laugh just because its a throwaway line, I wouldn't do that now. I mean, if it's in the right context it can be funny, but I wouldn't use it at all now, on the off chance, maybe they were gay or maybe a gay person hears that and says "wow, that brings up something horrible" and I think I should have more responsibility than that at this point in my life. I'm older and wiser and more enlightened. So I do try to keep myself in check, without question.
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