Easing off her slam of Oprah Winfrey, Rae Dawn Chong – the actress best known for her roles in the 1985 flicks "Commando" and "The Color Purple" – says she regrets, yet stands by at least some of the
racial and derogatory comments she made during a recent radio interview.
In a video a posted to YouTube, Chong attempted to explain why she described Oprah as "vile" and "fat," while referring to her as an N-word,
saying her original comments were taken out of context by TMZ, which publicized her initial tirade.
"I just want to say, out of context, it's a most unfortunate choice of words, and I regret it," Chung said in the video, which has since been made private on YouTube.
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"In context, I was actually complimenting Oprah. So, if you have a chance, you should listen to the whole interview," Chong added. "Do I have issues with her? Yes. Am I perfect? No. Do I take back everything I said? No. Am in pain that it's caused pain to me, to her? Yes."
In addition to the online video, Chong further defended and attempted to explain the roots of her comments.
"I cannot and will not take back anything said in my interview, but my frankness will cause pain and for lazy people out there who cannot investigate and listen to my entire interview and who just want to hate me. There is nothing I can do," Chong wrote on her blog.
"I fancy I have a big heart but apparently I have a big mouth, too," Chong added.
The actress, whose career has seen better days, also tied in the George Zimmerman, Trayvon Martin verdict into her explanation of the comments she made about Oprah.
"My body mind and soul are sad and exhausted with the tragedy of Trayvon Martin and all race relations," Chong, who is black, added. "My reference to Oprah was to highlight her success against out pitiful history. My bad for being so bold and obviously hurtful in my stupid word choices. I stand by my story just sad it was used this way... TMZ really?"
In the initial radio interview on the Matty P's Radio Happy Hour, the 52-year-old Chong first praised Winfrey, 59, for being "lovely" to her on the set of "The Color Purple," where the two last worked together nearly 30 years ago, before launching the vulgar, personal attack.
Below are samplings of the
expletive-filled interview as compiled by MSN Entertainment.
The origins of the supposed bad blood between Chong and Oprah:
"She was lovely [on 'The Color Purple']. It was after when I did 'Commando' and I was starring with Maria Shriver's husband in the movie. That's when she was a total bee-yotch. … She just wasn’t having me. She's competitive. She didn't like me. She just wasn't having me [on her talk show]."
Chong's initial backhanded compliment for Oprah:
"You gotta respect her, no matter how vile she is, 'cause ultimately she's all about Oprah and she's boring. But aside from that, you gotta kinda go, 'Hello, hats off, you've done an amazing thing. You have actually shifted the DNA of the universe.'"
The backhanded compliment continued:
"We have to give her props. ... I have to stop and say this woman is a miracle and I respect her and I say 'kudos to you' and I don't give two cents about the other parts of it. She shifted the DNA in terms of our thinking of a woman of a certain size and a certain shape. I love her for that. I don't care what she's about, I don't care that I know her ins and outs. I just think that she's done a lot. I love her for that, because we are in the struggle."
The N-word attack:
"If you look at the way she looks … 60 years ago she would have been a housekeeper, luckily. She would have not been a house [N-word], she would've been a field [N-word]. Let's be really raw here."
The venom continues:
"She's so enormously insecure. If you wanna distill Oprah Winfrey down to like her most basic components. She wants to be beautiful. … The thing that’s really great about Oprah that you can't take away from her is that she's a great brown-noser. If you were in a room with her, she'll pick the most powerful person, and she'll become best friends with them. When we worked with her ... she was that fat chick that was the ... wannabe cheerleader in school that was the student council president, that was best friends with the principal ... she was that fat chick in school that did everything and everybody loved her. That's Oprah -- love me, love me, love me."
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