John Mayer w/ Michael Franti and Spearhead

John Mayer the musician is about as inoffensive as they come, sighing brazenly sentimental soul-pop like his breakthrough single “Your Body Is a Wonderland,” and making occasional detours into the world of traditionalist electric blues. John Mayer the celebrity, on the other hand, is one of the most divisive figures in pop music, a tabloid-courting, celebrity-banging narcissist eager to call out anybody whose opinion of John Mayer isn’t as high as his own. Mayer has largely embraced his combative image, but even he must have been surprised by the outrage that resulted from an unfortunate, overly revealing Playboy interview this month where Mayer spoke in charged racial and sexual terms, even using the n-word. “My dick is like a white supremacist,” he told the magazine, comparing his genitals to David Duke. Mayer has tearfully apologized for the interview, but the dust from the storm hasn’t completely settled. “Is John Mayer a racist?” remains a popular debate on TV and talk radio, and protesters greeted Mayer’s Washington, D.C., concert last weekend.