Comedian Paul Mooney was ambushed by the devastating news of a tell-all book from legendary comic Richard Pryor’s ex-bodyguard, which accuses Mooney of raping Richard Pryor Jr. during the son’s formative years.
As a result, Mooney canceled shows for the foreseeable future in order to come to grips with these damning and inflammatory accusations fired off from the ex-bodyguard. It also includes the passage that the godfather of modern comedy, Pryor, allegedly put out an expensive bounty for Mooney’s head after learning that Mooney allegedly sexually assaulted his namesake son.
According to TMZ, Mooney backed out of a scheduled hosting gig at the Comedy Theater in Atlanta with this brusque sign on the door: “ATTENTION!! Paul Mooney is NOT on show tonight due to health reasons. We will transfer purchase to Faizon Love or Donnell Rawlings. Let box office know.”
Translation: “No Mooney but no refund.”
A Mooney representative spoke to TMZ, telling him that the bodyguard Rashon Kahn’s accusations have ratcheted up Mooney’s stress levels and that he was advised to, as they say in urban America, “get ghost” for a while until the situations calm.
Meanwhile, Richard Pryor Jr. did not confirm nor deny that it was Mooney who molested him as a child, but he did tell TMZ that he was sexually abused. And it did not help that Pryor Sr.’s widow, Jennifer Lee Pryor, got on social media to confirm that Pryor Jr. did address the matter at a dinner following his father’s funeral.
