Self-help guru Tony Robbins is filmed repeatedly using the N-word as he sings and dances on stage during a seminar in the 1980s
- The resurfaced video shows Tony Robbins repeatedly using the N-word while lecturing African American on how to respond to racism
- In the video posted online, Robbins can be seen dancing and singing on stage during one of his seminars in the 1980s as he repeats the racial slur
- The life coach was recalling an 'intense' encounter he had with a predominantly black crowd at a previous presentation
- Robbins said he told one man that he would never be free and would still be a slave if he didn't stop taking offense to racial issues
- Robbins' attorneys say the seminar was meant to address 'racial biases and disparity' and it was 'accepted in the context in which it was conducted'
- News of the video comes after Robbins was accused of berating audiences and sexually harassing staff by former audience members and employees
A decades-old video has shown world renowned self-help guru Tony Robbins repeatedly using the N-word while lecturing African Americans on how to respond to racism.
In the video posted online and first reported by Buzzfeed News, Robbins can be seen dancing and singing on stage during one of his seminars in the 1980s as he repeats the racial slur.
The life coach was recalling an 'intense' encounter he had with a predominantly black crowd at a previous presentation during which he was asked why he used one white examples during his seminars.
Robbins, who is now 59, said he told one man that he would never be free if he didn't stop taking offense to racial issues.
A decades-old video has shown world renowned self-help guru Tony Robbins repeatedly using the N-word while lecturing African Americans on how to respond to racism during a seminar in the 1980s
He recalled telling the man that 'as long as a man can look at you and say n***er' - during which he noted the crowd reacted angrily - 'as long as somebody can do that and get that kind of response I've seen right now where you're ready to explode... what you've done is given that person absolute control of you'.
'You have no control in your life. You are still a slave.'
He noted the crowd reacted angrily.
'I said I'd like you to be freed. Because I'm free and I'm white. Why don't you stand up and we'll get you free right now,' Robbins said.
He said he urged the crowd to stand up to try something with him for a moment.
'Pretend I'm black. Now do what I do, just for a minute if you want to be free and you want to have some fun,' he said.
He then started dancing and singing: 'I'm a n***er, you're a n***er, be a n***er too.'
Robbins continued: 'I'm a honky, you're a honky... I'm a honky n***er, you're a n***er honky.'
He noted that the technique changed the mood in the room and eventually both black and white audience members were singing those phrases with him.
'Black, white, doesn't matter to me,' Robbins said.
Robbins' attorneys claimed the decades-old seminar was meant to address 'racial biases and disparity'. The attorneys, in a letter to Buzzfeed prior to publication, accused the outlet of trying to use the video to smear the self-help guru's reputation.
'The excerpts (of the video)... show only a portion of the presentation and a parody and demonstration by Mr Robbins how racial prejudice and disparity is sometimes perceived, manifests and responded to,' his attorney Brian Wolf said in the letter.
'By all accounts, the presentation was positive and was accepted in the context in which it was conducted.
'Moreover, any suggestion that Mr Robbins is somehow racist or insensitive to the African-American community is absurd and false.
The emergence of the video comes after Robbins was accused of berating vulnerable audiences and sexually harassing staff by former audience members and employees.
The 59-year-old, who is a world renowned life coach, counts the Kardashians, Serena Williams and Oprah among his many celebrity fans
Robbins is shown on stage during one of his shows. They are rarely taped or photographed and he asks audiences to sign disclaimers before entering promising that they will not film
In two separate stories, Buzzfeed has cited nine accusers who say Robbins showered in front of them, scorned audience participants during arena shows where they had gone for help and asked bouncers to scour crowds looking for attractive women.
He angrily hit back with his own article on Medium where he denied all of the allegations and said he had been unfairly pursued by the news outlet for a year.
His lawyers also batted away all of claims reported by the outlet, saying they were made up or came from discredited, disgruntled former employees including women who were 'obsessed' with him and had to be let go from the company because of it.
The sexual harassment claims are related to alleged incidents which happened before he married his second wife, Sage.
Robbins, who counts the Kardashians, Serena Williams and Oprah among his many celebrity fans, has spoken openly in the past about having consensual relationships.
Two assistants had claimed they were forced to be in the same room as him while he showered or was naked.
'He would call you into the bathroom with him. 'Hey come here, I need you to make a note of something',' one, who declined to be named but said she worked with him for 18 months in the 1990s, said.
Sophiah Koikas (above) is one of the women who have accused Robbins of sexual misconduct. She said she attended one of Robbins' seminars in Hawaii in the early 1990s and alleged that he pulled her hand toward his genitals and groped her breast
She claimed that he once came out of the bathroom and dropped his towel in front of her in a hotel room. She said she ran out in tears and that she had wanted to share her story before, using her full name, but that she was afraid of him.
Kimberly Stokes, who was one of his live-in assistants when she was 22, claimed that he once walked into her bathroom while she was showering and 'dropped his towel.'
Stokes said Robbins exposed himself to her even though she had already rejected his advances before.
Another woman, Sophiah Koikas, said she attended one of Robbins' seminars in Hawaii in the early 1990s. She alleged that during the event, Robbins pulled her hand toward his genitals and groped her breast.
Mary Lantz alleged that Robbins sexually harassed her at an event in Ohio. Robbins told Lantz that she was 'driving him crazy' and that he hugged her, kissed her, and touched her breast.
A fourth named accuser, Lucie Galvez, said she interviewed for a personal assistant job around 2001 when she was in her early twenties.
During the interview, she alleges that Robbins asked her: 'How do you feel about nudity?' Galvez alleges that Robbins told her that the job would require working in close quarters with him and his then-girlfriend, and that the couple may be naked at time.
Galvez said she thought the interview was 'sexually inappropriate, almost predatory.'
'It felt like I was getting interviewed for sexual threesomes as opposed to an assistant's job,' she said.
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Robbins posted a YouTube video on Wednesday from Australia where he is currently hosting an event.
He accused BuzzFeed of 'flat-out lying' but did say that he was a 'better human being than I was in my twenties and thirties.'
Robbins also apologized to anyone who may have been offended by his behavior.
'I've never claimed to be perfect and if there's anything I've ever said or ever done that, sincerely, that offended anybody, hurt anyone's feelings, or if they felt anything of that nature, I just didn't support you, I apologize,' he said. 'It was certainly not my intention.'
Robbins' attorneys said their client 'absolutely denies' the allegations and 'specifically denies that he engaged in any of the alleged conduct' with the four women quoted in the second Buzzfeed story.
The attorneys said there were no records showing that the women brought forth 'any type of verbal or written complaint' with the company.
They also denied the allegations made in the first article.
