Decades ago in St. Louis, a local newsman was interviewing the author of the play, “The River Niger”. He mispronounced the word when he was introducing the author. I’m not sure how a professional reader did that, but the author corrected him and they moved on, although the newsman had a horrified look on his face for a moment. I don’t recall any big stink being made about it; the only reason I knew about it is I was watching when it happened.
I remember when Niger Innus was being interviewed on msnbc and the scroll under had a most serious spelling error.
One of the James Bond reference books notes that one of the chapters in an Ian Fleming novel was called “Nigger Heaven.”
When the book was released in the USA, that chapter was retitled. The author (of the reference book, not Fleming) explained that the word “Nigger” was used much more freely in the UK than it was in the USA. Maybe not today though.
I wonder about the hockey player from Nigeria.