Nina Simone Said She Almost Killed A Man For Not Paying Her In Vintage Clip

In a recently resurfaced clip from a 1999 BBC interview with the late Nina Simone, the legendary musician recalled an incident during which she says she attempted to kill a record company executive for robbing her. 

BBC Hard Talk posted a clip from the March 1999 interview to their Twitter page on the 14th anniversary of Simone’s death last Friday. In the video, the outspoken artist told interviewer Tim Sebastian that the exec took her albums without paying her. Simone said she confronted the company when they came to Switzerland. 

She doesn’t go into detail or specify who “they” is.

“I said ‘where’s my money?’” she told Sebastian. “And they said, ‘we’re not going to give you any money.’”

“I said, ‘oh yes, you are.’ I got a gun ― it was a gun, it wasn’t a knife  ― and I followed him to a restaurant and I tried to kill him,” she continued.

But Simone said she missed her target and returned to the U.S. When the interviewer questioned whether Simone indeed pulled the trigger, she clarified with “of (bleep) excuse me, yes I did.”

He then asked if the attempted killing made Simone feel better to which she replied: “Oh yes. Sorry I didn’t get him.”

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