I am assuming they’re referencing South Park.
Tolkien Black, formerly known as Token Black and Token Williams, is a male fourth grader at South Park Elementary and is voiced by Adrien Beard. His name was a play on words referring to the trope of the "token black guy" commonly featured on American television shows. However, in "The Big Fix", it was revealed that his name is actually "Tolkien", named after English writer J. R. R. Tolkien. Tolkien Black is a regular member of Craig's gang and is most notable for being the only African-American
Which sounds exactly like the slur it is. Try saying the n word exactly how it sounds to a black person, and then tell them you added a letter so it’s not a slur anymore and see what happens.
Matter of fact just call somebody black token or Tolkien to their face and see what happens. You will get knocked out it doesn’t matter if you added an extra letter to your slur or not.