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Comedian Paul Mooney’s publicist on Monday denied comedy legend Richard Pryor’s former bodyguard’s claims that the he had sex with Pryor’s son and that Pryor was willing to offer $1 million to any person who would have Mooney killed.
Mooney’s publicist, Cassandra Williams spoke about the statement saying, “There is no validity to Rashon Kahn’s statement as it relates to Mr. Paul Mooney,” according to TMZ.
The development comes after an interview of Kahn, went viral on YouTube after it was posted by Comedy Hype on Monday, where he details the reason why the relationship between Pryor and Mooney ended.
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Kahn, who has an upcoming book titled Everything Wasn’t Funny, states in the video that the two comedians “relationship became fragile because Paul Mooney had f****d Richard’s son by that time. He violated … Paul took advantage of the situation.”
Mooney, 78, had a longstanding partnership and friendship with Pryor and had previously worked with him as the head writer for his short lived The Richard Pryor Show in 1977 and also co-wrote material for many of Pryor’s stand-up performances and movies, Complex reports.
He goes on to say that Pryor was high when he made the statement about the bounty, but when he later asked the comedian about what he said, Kahn said Pryor told him that he was serious.
Kahn claimed that Pryor felt betrayed and hurt. He also says that the act was never carried out because Pryor “caught on fire” (evidently referring to the 1980 freebasing accident that severely burned the comedian), and his priorities were changed. If that hadn’t taken place, he said Mooney “would not currently be alive,” according to Complex.
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Kahn said he told Richard Jr. about his father’s plans. The ex-bodyguard said the son started crying because he didn’t know that Pryor knew about what took place.
Richard Jr., 58, has not spoken out about the allegation, but TMZ reports that Pryor’s widow, Jennifer Lee Pryor, tweeted that Richard Jr., verified it to her and said it happened during the shoot for the semi-autobiographical Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life is Calling, which was released in 1986.
TRUE-RP jr. confirmed this at the luncheon I gave after Richard’s funeral service–he announced it to the entire restaurant full of guests! I have it on tape.
— Jennifer Lee Pryor (@JenniferLPryor) August 26, 2019