Over 48 hours later, Quincy Jones’ Vulture interview is still a shock to the system. The former record producer told the world just about everything he knew about our favorite musicians, comedians, and actors without any apparent hesitation.
Amongst the big names mentioned, Jones called out Michael Jackson for greed, The Beatles for lack of talent, Marlon Brando for “f**king anything,” and Richard Pryor for coupling with Brando. Jones provided what seems like exclusive intel and an excuse for the world to leech onto the secrets of the dead. Many of those mentioned have long passed, unable to defend themselves, leaving room for sensationalism and even fabrication.
With Jones’ credibility, no one has thought to question the facts posited, though they’re all large claims. He’s been in the industry longer than many have been alive. Then, the 28-time Grammy winner’s ethos was backed when actor Pryor’s widow, Jennifer Lee confirmed, for those wondering, that Pryor was certainly sexually involved with Brando at some point.
“It was the ’70s!” she told TMZ. “Drugs were still good, especially quaaludes. If you did enough cocaine, you’d f**k a radiator and send it flowers in the morning.” Lee added that Pryor was open about his bisexuality until his death in 2005.
Many found their daily bread in the exposé but it left a sour taste in the mouth of Pryor’s daughter, Rain Pryor. While she stood behind her father’s fluidity, she said that he’d never had any relations with Brando. Rain took to social media with a series of posts.
“All you who touted Faux News and preach about wanting blacks to be represented in a great light and then posted Q’s interview are irrelevant and full of your own BS,” she wrote in a Facebook post. “Q, was once a brilliant music producer who is losing his mind, and decided to garner publicity for himself with a sensationalized interview; and because y’all think and equate Fame and Money with decency, you ate it up like thirsty dogs, as he spewed out a lie about my father who’s not here to defend himself.”
And Rain didn’t omit a response to Pryor’s widow. In fact, Lee was hit with equal blame and even accused of some disdain.
“Then on top of it all, my dad’s so-called widow validated it, because she needs to keep legitimizing herself and tarnish our dad even after he’s dead. She hated Q and Daddy,” she wrote.
She continued to deny any Pryor-Brando relationship. “There were no trips to his South Pacific Oasis, no flowers or love notes between. Not even a film role.” But Rain was not challenging her father’s sexual preferences. “My dad was very open with his life, so much so that news of his relationship with a trans woman in the early 70s and 80s wasn’t really newsworthy nor notable. As a child I knew her, not as the trans person in our home, but the lady whom everyone accepted.”
According to Jennifer Lee, the truth about Pryor’s life can be expected when his diaries are published later this year.
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