I’ve always been kinda neutral on Gerry Adams, but that right there for a moment made me really like that nigger!”
Alot of people got extremely upset when Gerry Adams used the N word in a tweet recently, but Reginald D. Hunter wasn’t one of them. “Man, I thought that was fucking hilarious!” the acclaimed American stand-up chuckles.
To those who missed it, on May 1 the Sinn Fein leader, having just viewed Quentin Tarantino’s bloodsoaked movie, somewhat unwisely tweeted, “Watching Django Unchained – A Ballymurphy Nigger!”
Following a storm of media outrage, Adams soon deleted the tweet, but protested that he was actually trying to draw a comparison between the plight of slaves in the United States and that of Irish nationalists in Ballymurphy, an area of Belfast where British soldiers murdered civilians in 1971. Needless to say, his protests mostly fell on deaf, unforgiving ears.
Not Reginald’s though. The black 47-year-old – who’s set to tour his new show The Aluminum Negro around Ireland next month – has a more mature perspective on the issue. “If people are upset about the way Gerry Adams used the word ‘nigger’ – and there’s a lot of debate and controversy and talk about it – then it means either you don’t have real problems, or you’re being distracted away from your real problems.
“I mean, there’s nothing he said that will make one black person be closer to incarceration, or murder, or ineligible for a bank loan. In fact, I’ll be even more honest about it. What makes me angry about situations like that is all the people who get upset about that thing seem to have no understanding of context. In fact, what he said was – in a roundabout, twisted way – very complimentary.
“I’ve always been kinda neutral on Gerry Adams, but that right there for a moment made me really like that nigger! Like wow! Seems like me and Gerry could smoke together and have a drink and talk real! Also, as well, there’s lots of people that believe that he was the leader of a terrorist organisation and those same people believe that such a man should not be eligible to say the word ‘nigger’. Which one’s worse?”
If Gerry Adams does fancy sharing a drink or a spliff with Hunter, he could do so on June 12 when The Aluminum Negro hits Belfast’s Mandela Hall.
What’s the new show about?
“Well, this is me being totally frank,” he says, after pausing for thought. “I know what the jokes are. But British people have taught me there’s a difference between knowing the plot of something and knowing what the show is about. I often don’t find out what the show is about until I’m onstage.
“By the time I leave Ireland I will have a firm idea of what it’s about, but I’m gonna discover that onstage. I’ve found with audiences over here that as long as you’re funny, or at the very least interesting, they’ll give you room to find out what it’s about. Especially in Ireland. So that’s my goal.”
Hunter sounds slightly offended when Hoot Press suggests that, in the past, he has often used Ireland as a testing ground for new material.
“I’m not sure how to answer that properly because that’s not true,” he insists. “And I’m concerned some Irish people may have that view of my work. There have been some times I’ve tested shows over in Ireland, but I’ve done the same in America or Australia. So no, I don’t see Ireland as my guinea pig.
“Now I do believe Ireland to be a place where, if I’ve lost my way a bit, and I need room to be able to find something on stage without being reviewed or overly criticised or have a lot of Home Counties people write letters to people, I find Ireland a safe environment to figure things out. But it is mischaracterisation to say that Ireland is the place where I always go to test stuff.”
Originally from Georgia, Hunter has been based in the UK for the last 20 years. Even so, like just about everyone else, he’s obviously keeping a close eye on current US politics.
“I’m not sure what I make of Donald Trump,” he mulls. “I was definitely strongly against him a while back, but I’m rethinking what I think about Trump. Not because of anything he’s done but because I’m even more keenly aware in the last few months of how the media portrays things.
“Like any person who’s trying to figure out the world, you’re trying to separate what’s true and what’s being told to you – and how it’s being told to you. If you asked me that two weeks ago I would’ve known exactly how to answer the Trump question. And I guarantee you two weeks from now that if you ask me, I will be able to answer the Trump question. But at the moment I’m thinking about him again.”  
 He sighs heavily when asked about Hillary Clinton.
“I’m trying to figure out how to answer that without needlessly pissing off a lot of women,” says Hunter. “How do I say this? I think she’s a crook. And I think that a lot of people are gonna vote for her because she’s a woman. A lot of women are gonna vote for her cause she’s a woman. I don’t flex on that too much because I know a lot of black people voted for Obama for the same reason. Hell, I know a lot of white people who voted for Obama just because he was black.
“But there seems to be a certain entitlement she feels about the presidency. Like she’s supposed to be rewarded for years of good service for standing by her man and ticking all the right boxes. So I don’t think she’s authentic, and I also think that she is beholden to many of the masters we do not see.”
An unashamedly vocal fan of the joys of beneficial herbs, Hunter is generally a pretty chilled-out type. But what really makes his blood boil?
“You know what, people ask me that and often I can’t quite remember what exactly makes my blood boil in the moment that they ask me… but you are very lucky, my friend!” he laughs. “I had a situation on stage the other night in preparation for Ireland, that made me remember what makes my blood boil. What makes my blood boil are the people who get in the way of honest debate and honest resolution.  
“It’s all the people who shout, in the midst of things, before you even finish talking, the ones who shout: ‘Well, what about the blacks?’ ‘What about the Jews?’ ‘What about women?’ ‘What about transgender?’ ‘What about my right to be heard?’  
“I call it the intolerant demanding equality,” he continues. “Nobody embodies this more than the American right wing. Hell, even the British right wing! That is not me giving you a fluff answer, I tell you. Those people are my fucking enemy. I was made to destroy those people. I hate them!”  
 The Aluminum Negro Irish tour kicks off in the Lime Tree Theatre, Limerick on June 1. It also visits Vicar Street, Dublin (11) and Mandela Hall, Belfast (12). For full list of dates visit www.reginalddhunter.com