by SonDog
By now, you've probably seen this Michael Richards (Aka, "Kramer" from Seinfeld) profanity laced tirade directed at a couple of black heckelers. Indeed, it was the ultimate, "Okay Champ, why don't you just stop talking for a while?" moment.
Richards tried to apologize on the Late Show with David Letterman last night, but frankly the apology made about as much sense as his racist comments just nights before. I mean, what in the hell does your tirade have to do with Hurricane Katrina. In other words, we have Mel Gibson Part II, as in "I'm not really a racist. I apologize." By the way, if you didn't see Family Guy on Sunday, you have to watch this Mel Gibson clip. A Michael Richards piece is sure to follow soon.
At any rate, I don't think I can be a fan of Richards anymore. I mean that sincerely. What came out of this guy's mouth was just inexcusable. It's equal parts shocking and appalling. I only wish a few of those fellas he was speaking about kicked his ass after the show. He deserves all of the bad press he is sure to receive.
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
OK Champ, Why Don't You Just Stop Talking Now
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9 comments:
Holy Moses! I'd not seen that clip until now. What drug(s) was he on to launch into that? Seriously!!
I don't know, but I'm sure it had to do with Hurricane Katrina.
By the way, I really need to copy edit my stuff before I post it.
Really? You picked what he said about Katrina, in the midst of what seemed like a feartfelt apology, to criticize him? It seemed like a real, unqualified apology, which I appreciate.
I assume when you write "I don't think I can be a fan of Richards anymore," you mean you aren't going to laugh at what the Kramer character does on reruns of Seinfeld. I would guess you hadn't thought about Richards himself at all in the past few years, which would lead me to believe you weren't a fan of Richards in the first place, as much as you were a fan of Cosmo, which, of course, is fine. I can't say I watched The Michael Richards Show more than twice, nor did I ever rent Trial and Error when it hit the video stores, so I can fairly say I didn't give a flying turd about him other than that he had played a great character on my favorite show. In reality, hardly any of us were actually Michael Richards fans, which is why other things he's done have crapped out. So the idea that someone would make a point of stating that they aren't going to be a fan of his anymore, accompanied by a heavy dose of self-righteous indignance, seems a little much for my taste.
Of course I'm just guessing, and you might have a signed 8x10 next to your bed.
I can't believe I didn't catch "feartfelt" when editing my comment. Dammit.
His "apology" really looked to me like nothing more than a guy who knows he fucked up his career. Trying to qualify it by saying, to paraphrase, "These things are in all of us, and I don't know where it came from," is disengenuous. That was a passionate diatribe towards somebodies race.
BH, you're absolutely right about being a fan of him. I suppose I mis-wrote that sentence. I was more of a fan of his Kramer character than anything else, like most of us. That being said, I probably won't be a fan of his character anymore. For the forseable future, it will be what I think about when I see him on Seinfeld, right or wrong. I'm sure there will come a time sooner rather than later when I don't think about it, but it without question stains and tarnishes what was otherwise a fine career.
An apology can't make up for an inexcusable rant that includes, "50 years ago, we'd have you hanging upside down from a tree with a fork up your ass!" Who is "we?" The cast of Seinfeld? Your Broadway company? Inexcusable by definition means the offense is beyond excuse. It was pretty sickening to hear.
BH, question: Why was my last post "accompanied by a heavy dose of self-righteous indignance?" Is that to say that my view that "What came out of this guy's mouth was just inexcusable. It's equal parts shocking and appalling" is narrow-mindedly moralistic?
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Sorry, if I didn't have to sign in every time I wouldn't have posted that.
First off, yes I will think about this incident everytime I watch sienfeld.. I'll be, no.. I'm over it.
And I agree with Whitey as if it was a nigger, oh i'm sorry, black man, man of color, dark skinned, man of african descent, palely challenged or any other fucking term that was on stage and calling a hechler that happened to be white, a cracker or former slave owner or a little dicked mother fucker or what have you, it'd been funny. Well you know what, fuck that.
I didn't own slaves and I don't have a little dick. No it ain't 9 but I"m doing fine thank you. I'm sick and tired or this double standard bullshit. We are forcefed black (hope that isn't offending anyone) culture and slang all the time. They use the word NIGGER all the time. They have changed the word from a hater dirty word from the time I was a boy to slang for: buddy, dog, dude or any other form of friend by the time that I am now a man.
My Niggas(group of white friends)don't call me "their Cracker". So why the fuck can you call me that.
Just think if he had appeared in any way sane during his interview afterwards we may not have made a big deal of this. Or, I guess he could have been black and called the hechler a cracker and no one woulda said shit.
I was in the Memphis, TN airport on my way back to Colorado from a nice Thanksgiving weekend, when I heard commentary on this story coming from the TV in the waiting area.
You could definitely feel the tension in the terminal, as the crackers kind of shrunk in their seats a little. Some even shook their heads (to seem)as if in disgust. If Richards had made a scene like that in a Memphis comedy club, he seriously would have had trouble making it out of there.
I was so glad when the Kramer story was over, but the very next one was about that wedding party in New York that was shadily gunned down by police. Followed immediately with the Pope trashing muslims and muslims wanting to burn the pope like a witch in the colonial days.
I thought a riot might break out right there in the Memphis airport! Everything coming from the TV was feeding the fire of racial tension. I'm thinking to myself, "this TV is trying to get me killed".
The thing about racism is that it has been alive and well since the beginning of time. Like drugs and war, you will not see the end of it. It's not something that was born in the U.S.A. If you are Irish, Jewish, or African (to name three), somewhere along the line your family/people have been hated, enslaved, beaten, killed, suppressed, and everything imaginable.
The Kramer thing merely brings to light the attitudes that are still prevalent in our country today. Not as many people will say the words out loud anymore, but the thoughts are still in folks' heads.
It's all very ugly.
And to answer C-lo's question, I think he was either on cocaine or Red Bull (basically the same thing).
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