"He only said something [borderline] racist. He didn't actually do anything racist"?

My boyfriend came across this article on John Mayer yesterday and was discussing it with himself. The article shows many distasteful and offensive remarks made by John Mayer. To the remark about Mayer having a “hood pass” (read the interview to see what was said) my boyfriend says that since he didn’t actually do something “obviously racist,” he only said something that may be racist to some people, it’s ok paraphrasing “ok”. I didn’t respond to him that’s why I said he was discussing it with himself, but what is your opinion?

Are racist words less “bad” than racist actions?