Richard Pryor Jr. appeared to address a claim about comedian Paul Mooney when TMZ caught up with him, and Mooney’s representatives are denying the allegations.
The exchange followed a recently published video of Rashon Khan, a former bodyguard for Richard Pryor Sr., who is promoting a tell all book called Everything Wasn’t Funny. Khan claimed that the friendship and working relationship between Pryor Sr. and Mooney, who was well known as one of Pryor’s writers, began to struggle around 1986 because Mooney had sexually abused Richard Jr. while he was underage. Khan did not say when the alleged incident took place.
When TMZ asked Pryor Jr. about the claims, he reportedly said that whatever happened in his life happened when he was young, well before the 1980s. When the reporter asked whether the relationship was consensual, Pryor Jr. responded that no relationship can be consensual if a person is a teenager. He declined to address other rumors connected to the story.
Mooney’s legal team denied the allegations and told TMZ that the claims do not add up. His representatives pointed out that the two comedians were seen together in the late 1990s, almost 20 years after Khan says the friendship fell apart. According to Complex, the representatives also said Pryor Jr. never named Mooney during his conversation with TMZ.
These are allegations and denials as reported at the time, and none of the claims have been proven.
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