SLOAN: Scrabble.
It's the game that's missing pieces
in the Airbnb you rent.
But it turns out people do play it,
and right now, they're having some drama.
NEWSMAN: The North American Scrabble Players Association
may soon get rid of offensive terms
-from its official word list. -SLOAN: Hold up.
They're only getting rid of slurs now?
So, words that could get you kicked off of Twitter
used to help you win a Scrabble tournament?
I asked tournament player Lisa Odom
why she supported the ban.
I mean, playing at home, I don't think you're as aware
that those words are allowed,
but when you play in a club situation
or a tournament situation,
they're-they're definitely allowed there.
Everyone has that initial shock,
and then you kind of explain, and... But then I was like,
"Why do we have to give them that shock,
and, you know, do they really need to be in the game?"
Now, I know you want to take them out,
but is it because they're offensive,
or is it because you're trying to make sure
other people don't get more points than you?
This is a safe space. You can tell me.
I mean, if they're... if they're not there for me,
they're not there for you, and so then you would have
to make the next best play without it.
What if only people in that group
that the slurs are against
play the words?
No. No, I don't agree.
SLOAN: So, What kind of slurs are we talking about?
To find out, I chatted with Will Anderson,
2017 North American Scrabble champion
and NASPA veteran.
So, the words that we've specifically targeted
are ones that are, um,
racial, ethnic, gender--
anything relating to a person's identity.
SLOAN: Okay, let's take a look at the list.
"Greybeard"? Isn't that a Game of Thrones family?
I think "greybeard" is, like, an ageist word.
What is "pepsi"? Is that a term for Black people?
Uh, it's actually an offensive word
for French-Canadian people.
SLOAN: If you have "superbitch,"
-you need to put "megabitch" on there, as well. -(chuckles)
I... That one, I honestly have no idea why that's here.
SLOAN: The list is 255 words long,
and they're so bad, we can't even show them to you.
Wow!
People are awful.
And it's not surprising which demographic gets the most words.
What the hell is a "blackamoor"?
"Blackamoor" is an archaic word for a Black person.
SLOAN: Okay, we've got "darkie,"
"jigaboo," "mulatto,"
"piccaninnies," "schvartze."
Honestly, it's nice to see
that white people took a lot of time
to call Black people a lot of different things.
So, Will, what kind of person would play an offensive slur
just to win a board game?
Uh, well, in my very, very first tournament,
I played the C-word
against an elderly woman.
-To an 80-year-old woman? -To a very elderly woman.
I had a lot of consonants, and it scored well,
and she didn't bat an eye.
Now, after that, did she play the word "micropenis"?
-Did that happen? -(laughs)
SLOAN: And why were all these words
even used in Scrabble tournaments
right up until the year 2020?
ANDERSON: I don't think anybody
approves of the use of slurs
to offend or demean
other people in the Scrabble community,
but once you're a tournament Scrabble player for long enough,
the definitions of the words
almost cease to matter to us at all.
It's just that the words are playing pieces.
But if a word is just a word,
would someone be so bold to play the N-word...
-Um... -...when my melanated self is sitting
across from this table with these tiles in my hand?
-You know? -A lot of people
felt that that's the one
that we can all agree shouldn't be in there.
If we're doing the wrong thing, then we should change it
'cause it's the correct choice for us to do.
SLOAN: Okay, so, a ban
on the N-word especially seems reasonable,
but surprisingly, some people disagree,
like Randall Kennedy, the author of...
Oh, wow. That's bold.
Okay. So, um, I'm just... (exhales)
I'm glad to see you're Black.
So, you disagree with the decision
to take the slurs out of tournament play.
If we're talking about Scrabble,
you know, what's the purpose of the game?
The purpose of the game is for people to identify words
and that there's points attached to identifying the words.
Well, is the N-word
or the S-word
or the f-word...
Are those words?
The answer is yeah, they're words.
Well, if they're words,
why not use them in this game?
Okay. So, if you're sitting across from someone
playing a nice, little game of Scrabble
on a Sunday afternoon
and someone laid down the N-word,
you wouldn't be offended?
No. You know, if-if someone was using
the infamous N-word
to demean somebody,
I would say repress it.
But that's not what's going on here.
I think we need to be very careful
even with the use of the word "use."
Are they using the word,
or are they simply reciting
somebody else's use of the word?
You just lawyered me.
No, no, no, no! You just lawyered me.
That's what just happened.
'Cause now we're in a court of law,
and it's like, "Your Honor."
I did customer service for a long time.
Customer service and lawyering is the same thing, Dr. Kennedy.
Well, one thing that concerns me
is actually empowering words
that can be used in a hateful way
by making them taboo.
SLOAN: Maybe Professor Kennedy has a point
about giving the N-word too much power,
but if you ask me, why use a word
that invokes centuries of racist hatred and oppression
to score points when there are plenty
of nonoffensive words you can use?
CARROT TOP: What the (bleep)?
Dulcé, stop. Seriously. God.
-It's not funny. -Sorry, Carrot Top.
You're not on the bad list.