A decades-old video unearthed by BuzzFeed News shows world-famous life coach and author Tony Robbins repeatedly saying the N-word while lecturing African Americans on responding to racism.
In the video, reported Thursday by BuzzFeed, Robbins dances around while repeatedly using the word onstage in front of an audience that laughs him on as he sings.
{mosads}“I’m a n—–, you’re a n—–, be a n—– too,” Robbins is seen saying in the video, while a raucous audience, not shown, laughs. “I’m a honky, you’re a honky,” he continues, adding: “I’m a honky n—–, you’re a n—– honky.”
In the video, Robbins explains that he believes African Americans give people power by taking offense from racial epithets.
“As long as someone calls you a n—– and gets that kind of response I’ve seen right now, where you’re ready to explode, and what you’ve done is given that person absolute control of you. You have no control in your life. You are still a slave,” he says in the video.
The video’s publication comes days after a previous BuzzFeed report revealed that numerous women have come forward with accusations of sexual harassment from Robbins, including former fans who said Robbins groped people and berated victims of rape.
Robbins, 59, is a nationally-renowned life coach and speaker, and has authored numerous bestselling books including “Awaken the Giant Within” and “Unlimited Power.”
Robbins’s attorneys issued a lengthy letter slamming BuzzFeed ahead of the article’s publication, accusing the news outlet of acting in bad faith and claiming that his remarks on race had been made initially to a black audience.
“The excerpts included with your email show only a portion of the presentation Mr. Robbins made to an African-American audience in the 1980s,” the letter to BuzzFeed reads. “The presentation was positive and was accepted in the context in which it was conducted: a passionate discussion about racism and how to rise above it.”
“Any suggestion that Mr. Robbins is somehow racist or insensitive to the African-American community is absurd and false. Indeed, one of Mr. Robbins’ event partners for 25-plus years is an African-American,” the attorneys continued.