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‘He didn’t mean anything by it,’ Simmons says of Mayer’s controversial comments. By Shaheem Reid Russell Simmons Photo: MTV News John Mayer has apologized for his multiple controversial comments in his recent Playboy interview — one of which involved a racial slur — and rappers like N.O.R.E. and Talib Kweli took Mayer to task for his statements last week. But Russell Simmons and Jermaine Dupri said during NBA All-Star weekend that they aren’t mad at him — in fact, Simmons even gave Mayer “a pass” (although he didn’t mean ‘hood pass). “He’s a nice guy. He don’t know,” Simmons said on the red carpet at Jay-Z and LeBron James’ “Two Kings Dinner and Afterparty” presented by Bing and Sprite. “If you live in Beverly Hills, you might think there’s a post-racial society and the pain is gone. A lot of black people use that word, all the time — myself included — kind of as a way to ease the pain from it. You sort of forget that it even existed. We can do that. But when you see people outside of the community do that, it’s more hurtful. He didn’t mean anything by it. I give him a pass. He’s hard on his girls [Jessica Simpson and Jennifer Aniston], though, ain’t he? On the black community, it’s not so hard. That’s my opinion.” Jermaine Dupri had a different but related take on Mayer’s comments. “I thought it was a funny-ass interview,” Dupri said on Sunday at the NBA All-Star game. “I personally think he thought he was talking to Playboy and it wasn’t gonna get to the rest of the world. I guess he underestimated his power and how famous he is and people took it the wrong way. Not to say what he said was cool, but I thought it was a funny interview. It’s his private parts and whatever he wants to do with ’em, that’s what he wants to do with ’em. That’s not for us to judge. I think we in his business too much. I think he [went] the wrong way about saying it. I love the Jessica Simpson part though.” What do you think of the debate over John Mayer’s Playboy interview? Are you surprised people are still talking about his comments? Let us know below! Related Artists Russell Simmons Jermaine Dupri John Mayer

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Russell Simmons, Jermaine Dupri Aren’t Mad At John Mayer For Playboy Interview