Simon Pegg Might Avoid A Certain Shaun Of The Dead Joke Today, But He Doesn't Regret It

After Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg unleashed "Shaun of the Dead" onto the world, horror comedies were never the same. Kicking off Wright's Cornetto Trilogy starring Pegg and Nick Frost, the film skyrocketed all involved to international acclaim. Every horror comedy of the last two decades is desperately trying to capture the magic of "Shaun of the Dead," as evidenced by how many films try to drum up interest with pull quotes reading "the funniest horror comedy since 'Shaun of the Dead'" or something to that effect. And it's for a good reason — "Shaun of the Dead" straight-up riiiiiiips. The zombies look creepy, the film's understanding of the genre is unparalleled, and for the most part – the comedy still holds up after all these years.

"For the most part" is the operative phrase here.

In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Pegg discussed one line that he'd reconsider including in the movie had he made the film today: when Ed (Frost) drops the n-word. But at the same time, he doesn't regret its inclusion. "People often say, 'Oh, do you regret that?' And I don't, because [...] it's a joke about how a clueless white guy has listened to too much rap music and thinks that that's appropriate," Pegg explained. "It's not racist to talk about racism. It's all about how inappropriate Ed is. It's an important character beat, because it tells us that he's unreliable and not particularly trustworthy, that he doesn't really have his both feet in reality."

It's not up to white folks to decide what is or isn't racist in any context, but Pegg has been a vocal supporter of racial equity and organizations like Black Lives Matter for years, so he's not some frothing bigot trying to make excuses. Comedies tend to be time capsules of when they were made, and "Shaun of the Dead" is no exception.

White people have always mocked, appropriated, or stolen Black culture, but as the internet became more commonplace throughout the 2000s, there were a lot more conversations being had publicly about the behavior. "The Real World: New Orleans" season from 2000 featured a house member named Julie who needed to be educated about racial slurs after a swamp tour guide dropped the n-word in front of them, outraging the Black housemates. "Why is it not okay for me to say it, but it is okay for you to say it?" she asked. Looking at this through a 2024 lens, it seems like the most preposterous question imaginable, and it's even more head-turning when her continued questioning includes her saying out loud, "What's up my [n-word]?"

And yet, in the wake of the murder of George Floyd around 20 years later, everyone from NPR to the BBC were publishing articles explaining to white people why they can't say the n-word.

The year before "Shaun of the Dead" debuted, Jamie Kennedy starred in "Malibu's Most Wanted," a comedy film about a rich white kid who pretends to "act hood," dropping the n-word during a rap battle and earning a rightful spot in the dumpster after the crowd throws him out. The year after "Shaun of the Dead," Vince McMahon told John Cena to "keep it up, my [n-word]" on live national television, with Black wrestlers Booker T and Queen Sharmell watching in horror. The segment has since been removed from Peacock and WWE Network for obvious reasons.

This is to say that, while it certainly doesn't make the inclusion acceptable, to act as if this wasn't grossly common at the time is frankly, ahistorical. As Simon Pegg explained further, the joke was to directly comment on the commonplace behavior at the time.

The endorphins released while watching a comedy film often stifle a person's ability to recognize that depiction is not necessarily endorsement. We know that Ed is Shaun's best friend in the movie, and he deeply cares for him, but Ed kind of sucks! "For us, that moment was always about demonstrating how sort of clueless Ed was about the world around him," Pegg explained. He rightfully said that today folks need to be "a little bit more responsible about how you throw that word around," but said that he stands by the joke "in terms of the function of it, how it works, and what it means." So much about Ed can be gleaned in that one moment because the word is beyond inappropriate for him to be using. Even Shaun's reaction to Ed in that moment confirms how embarrassing and inappropriate it is. 

Pegg even understands that if written today, the joke wouldn't land, because it would also be wildly misunderstood. "But I would defend the joke always in terms of our intentions, which were never anything other than to demonstrate the sort of blasé racism of white middle-class kids that listen to too much hip-hop." The unfortunate reality is that this sort of racism is still pervasive, but people are far more aware of the optics than they were before. It happens every time someone claims AAVE (African-American Vernacular English) is just "Gen-Z slang," and is therefore acceptable language to be used regardless of race. The blasé racism of white middle-class kids has not gone away, it's just changed shape and become the core of micro-aggressive behavior.