Neil Patrick Harris Drops N-Word During Open Act with Mike Tyson
Neil Patrick Harris is receiving praise for his enthusiasm while hosting the Tony Awards on Sunday, but some of the talk is surrounding the possibility that Harris dropped a racial epithet during the show's opening number.
Harris took the stage with a guitar dressed as the lead male in "Once" and quipped, "I wouldn't be here if someone else hadn't passed on hosting. So special thanks to Shia LaBeouf for this opportunity."
The jab was in reference to LaBeouf pulling of the Broadway show "Orphans" and possible disagreements with the some of the show's cast.
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Harris dove right into a nearly eight-minute performance featuring casts from nearly a dozen musicals to open the show. During the dazzling performance former boxer Mike Tyson came on stage, while Harris sang, "It's bigger! Tonight it's bigger."
During the rendition, the 39-year-old star of "How I Met Your Mother" can be clearly heard on video singing the line as part of his introduction.
As part of his eight-minute opening number seasoned performer Harris sings: 'In tandem like we planned 'em, forgive me if it's random but Mike Tyson had a one man show let's give the man a hand."
"And make things bigger, like bigger. I'm here with Iron Mike Tyson he's a heavyweight yo. We're going bigger is 'Is I his n***a'."
Tyson did not seem to hear the word and was all smiles as he danced next to Harris.
But in an interview leading up to the Tony's, Harris revealed that he always takes hosting the award show seriously.
"I'm constantly second-guessing and trying to one-up myself. I guess at the same time, when I would get super-insecure before, I would think it was the end of the world. Now I know that there's a light at the end of the tunnel and that everything will be OK," Harris told CBS.
