Samuel L. Jackson challenges reporter to say N-word during "Django Unchained" interview

Samuel L. Jackson visit BET's "106 & Park" at 106 & Park Studio on Dec. 14, 2012, in New York. / Craig Barritt/Getty Images

Samuel L. Jackson turned the tables on a reporter during a recent interview to promote "Django Unchained."

While discussing the Quentin Tarantino film, a Western set in the pre-Civil War South, the actor refused to discuss the its use of the "n-word" -- unless the interviewer said the word aloud first.

During an interview with Houston's Fox TV affiliate, film critic Josh Hamilton broached the subject by saying, "There's been a lot of controversy surrounding the usage of the N-word in this movie..." (The word is said more than 100 times during the film by various characters.)

Jackson stopped him right there, challenging him to say the word in question.

"We're not going to have this conversation unless you say it," he said.

Hamilton, a white man, refused. When he asked Jackson if he would say it, the actor responded, "No, [expletive] no! It's not the same thing."

Hamilton gave up and moved on to the next topic, but not before saying that it was a "great question."

"It wasn't a great question if you can't say the word," Jackson told him.

You can watch the interview here (the n-word conversation begins at the 13:54 minute mark).

"Django Unchained," which opened on Christmas Day, has grossed $77.8 million in North America, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The film's subject matter and language apparently hasn't dampened interest in the film -- THR reports that the film is doing strong business among African-American moviegoers.

[KeliKell]

@OVRLRD13: interesting comment in regards to why we black people in america call ourselves African American instead of just being american's. I always say i am an american yet the so called powers that be prefer we people of color hyphen our american status. so I agree it would be nice if all people who were born and raised in america, especially us black people, who's ancestors built america free of charge, and who have several generations of americans who were born and raised here. we,black, american's, are definitely as american as apple pie, soul music, rock and roll, hip hop, jazz, oh yeah we created those music genre's, and probably made the first apple pies on the plantations, so we are not going anywhere, if you read your american history we have had a hard time being recognized as citizens, our ancestors died so we can be treated as american's it is not us, trust me, why not ask some of your people why the people of color can't just be american's, seems to me a lot of caucasian, white, people of european ancestry, think only you and your people are the only legit american's ...and i've always preferred to be called black.

[L1verpool1]

When was the term "African American" formed? Carol from Liverpool UK here.... had a lot of friends in the US service from the earlier 70's onwards and hey all the brothers used to say was back n the world bcause thats how proud they were of being black americans they thought of it as their world. what's happened since then seems even more segregrated with the term now.

Carol from Liverpool

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[ovrlrd13]

I don't understand the term African American, my ancestors came from Ireland and I am an AMERICAN not Irish American.So why does black people wanna segregate themselves like that.They want to be equals then drop the African and become American like the rest of us.The same goes for Asian Americans and Hispanic Americans.If you don't wanna be just an American then leave.Me I am proud to be just to be an American.If that is not good enough for anyone else then move somewhere else.That is part of what is wrong with the country people like dividing up to much.Learn to let go of the past and get onboard this country is suppose to be a melting pot.

[jimmydon7]

I agree the term needs to go, however i don't think its an issue of 'black people wanna segregate themselves' the term 'African American' is of recent invention. The term used initially was negro, i.e. Spanish for black, then colored, now the new term. Also it is somewhat disingenuous to put the burden of self segregation on 'blacks' where just a little over 40yrs ago to integrate in many places, e.g. use the same bathroom was a crime.

[KeliKell]

i replied to your comment probably in the wrong section yet i did

[jimmydon7]

Jane Elliott's blue eyes brown eyes study is fascinating, it shows how children in the 3rd grade in a community completely absent of any people of color use the word with the greatest ease.

[Scimajor]

"No, [expletive] no! It's not the same thing."

WOW!!!! Talk about a racist statement!!!! "It's not the same thing"???????? What? because a "white" person saying that vile word is bad but an African American person saying it is somehow OK??????

By the way, WHO GIVES A POOP what race someone is? I DON'T care. I judge people by their actions. I could care less what their lineage is.

[gregorio57]

I'm from New Orleans, if you want me to say,'******' then I will.

I once taught some black high school students and one of them kept saying, '******' and I asked him to stop. He then asked me what word to stop staying. When I repeated the word, '******' he and other students got upset that I was calling them that. It was ridiculous.

I actually got along so well with some of my black students, that I was asked on different occasions if I was black. I'm not, but I took it as a compliment.

[hypnotoad72]

And if the reporter said the word, how would the interview have shifted?

I'm not saying it would, but who's saying it wouldn't?

I will see the movie before commenting anymore on it, however...

[rwsmith29456]

I grew up a white boy in the 1950s South with this word and have spent most of my life trying to escape it. Now my son and his friends use it, kids call each other '*****' and the music repeats the word as much as they do the other obscenities they use so much. Maybe this is the 'desensitizing' that the word needs. I don't like it, but maybe it's part of the healing process.

[hypnotoad72]

Or it was somebody, or a number of somebodies, using the word to cash in for profit. In our trash culture, anything that is "offensive" or "ribald" often gets instant promotion and celebrity status.

This isn't desensitizing in the form the world needs, especially as not everyone in the world knows its origins and pejorative underpinnings.

As you even said, "the music repeats the word" and most kids don't hear that word from mommy and daddy.

It's the music that says the word, with the impressionable kiddies repeating it.

[voxpopulus]

What Jackson is unwittingly (apparently) proving is that the struggle over words and definitions is a struggle over power. And far from disempowering individuals, the fact that now, in this area, blacks have more expressive freedom than whites, is an exercise of that power. That doesn't mean they have the power in other areas. But here they do. Fights over language are always a fight for power.