Kramer Loses It
Michael Richards, the comedian who played the lovably wacky character Kramer on the hit series Seinfeld, caused an uproar last night in a Los Angeles comedy club after responding to a black heckler with a tirade of racial epithets. Video of the shocking outburst is available at TMZ.
What was that? Was he trying to be funny? And who was the guy who kept laughing until most of the audence had left?
Sick and disgusting. This is gross behavior and the black community deserves an apology from this bastard.
I’m waiting for some apologists to compare this tirade to the comedy stylings of someone like Lenny Bruce, RIchard Pryor or even better Chris Rock. I mean c’mon. Black people say this all the time to each other; why is it then such a big deal when a white person calls a black person a “nigger” (or schvartze for our community)?
Mikey,
I’m totally with you on that. I get the sense, though, that in his own head, perhaps Richards was going fo that kind of thing, but instead his anger caused him to cross the line and be hurtful and like you said, disgusting. The sadly ironic thing is that when Richards was in the army, he spent his time creating educational theater dedicated to fostering positive race relations.
I prefer when people say things like this, that they DON’T do the obligatory apology the next day. It is not sincere.
Just stick by what you said.
I would have respected Mel more if he said, yea..you all know I am an anti semite…The end.
We know it, we have always known it, so what?
Mike Richards…probably not a stand up comic so he was off guard with hecklers..
Did you see Don Rickles on Jimmy Kimmel the other week…he pretty much said the same kind of things to a Japanese guy in the band…
Even Carlos Mencia gives it good to all races/religions.
But think about what Richards said..sadly some of the things ARE true..
yes. ages ago, he is right…the poor black man was tortured with pitchforks. That is a fact and it is sad.
yes, you have to be careful what you say to minorities or they will sue you. That is a fact.
Granted these are horrible facts, but true.
I love Patrice..he is my fav black comic even over Dave Chappell. I would love to hear his take.
I think Richards lost it, probably does have athing against blacks. Ok..don’t apologize, unless you mean it!
BT,
The fact that whites terrorized black people with lynching doesn’t get him off the hook, does it? I think it is clear (at least to me) that when he says, “We’d have you upside down with a fork in your ass”, somehow I don’t think he was trying to give the audience a pre-Civil Rights Era American history lesson.
Apparently I don’t know how to use HTML. :/
Why does it seem to be virtually axiomatic that the more completely delusional a particular assertion is, the more thoroughly untethered from anything resembling reality on planet Earth, the more frequently those alleging it justify it on the grounds that “That’s just the way it is,†or “It’s a fact?â€
yes, you have to be careful what you say to minorities or they will sue you. That is a fact.
Ahh, it’s a fact. See that’s a relief, cause I was pretty sure it was a big, steaming load of nonsensical bullshit. But I guess that can’t be, can it? Because it’s a fact; a “horrible†fact. But just for fun, how about a little experiment? Specifically, how about a single example of when this has ever happened. Not all “the minorities†involved. Not all the instances of the need “to be careful.†But a single circumstance in which “minorities†have ever sued someone because of what was said to them Maybe then, the claim that “it’s a fact†will seem just a little less preposterous.
(inserting a close tag because all comments seem to be coming out as bold)
Dude, see the long apology video from letterman last night. Dunno what theheck is up with him, but it is definitely a much more sincere approach than say Mel Gibson apologies
Hopefully, that clears up the issue of shitty code.
Damn, have you people never heard of a closing tag?
I’m probably in the minority here, but I don’t think Michael Richards is a racist anymore than anybody else. From what I saw, it seemed like he was just really pissed off and went for the thing he knew would piss off the hecklers the most. It was stupid and insensitive. But the fact that he said, “Ooh! Ooooh! All right. You see? This shocks you This shocks you to see what buried beneath you stupid motherf*ckers” to the audience when they reacted the way they did (he was not speaking to the heclers at that point from what I saw), shows that he knew what he was doing and meant to shock the consciences of everyone by saying, “Yeah, I’m being crude, but it’s all inside of you too.” Again, none of this excuses him, but I do believe that it mitigates it a bit.
Some people may draw a parallel with the Mel Gibson thing, but the difference there is that Mel didn’t need a Jew around (since he didn’t know the cop was a Jew until too late) to begin his tirade. Again, not that provocation is an excuse, but I do think it shows that Mel really meant it, while Michael Richard’s intention is more questionable.