November 23, 2006
Kramer Kraziness Kontinues
Oy. As the debate about Michael Richards, aka Cosmo Kramer from Seinfeld, and his racist rant at comedy club hecklers continues, it now turns out that he may have had a run-in with comedy club patrons - and went off in an anti-Semitic rant at that time! TMZ.com spoke to a couple who says Richards went berserk while, yes,being heckled at LA's The Improv. Carol Oschin said, "Michael Richards said, 'You're a f---ing Jew.' Your people are the cause of Jesus dying."
Richards's newly hired PR man, big gun Howard Rubenstein, said, "He is Jewish and he said, 'I'm absolutely not anti-Semitic.' He acknowledged that he said those things. He said that he was role-playing and playing a character. He said, 'There is no way I'm anti-Jewish.'" Oh, so it's all about being a "character" now! The next step is for Richards to check into a rehab or mental health facility.
And interestingly enough, Richards hired Rubenstein yesterday - the same day the NY Times' Virginia Heffernan wrote, when analyzing the comedy club and Letterman appearances:
Unlike more pro-forma apologizers — Senator George Allen and Mel Gibson — Mr. Richards, after all, did not have a whole lot to lose. He hardly had the publicist Howard Rubenstein running off a copy of his firm’s best “truly sorry, humbly repent, Hazelden” breast-beating memo.She did bring up something we'd wondered about: The possibility that Richards was actually in character, attempting (however poorly) pardoy, though his words clearly show a very angry man with a lot of problems. We're not sure if Jerry Seinfeld can save him.
On Rubenstein's advice, Richards called the Reverend Al Sharpton and the Reverend Jesse Jackson to apologize, but Sharpton said, "He called me yesterday to say sorry, but it's not my place to accept that on behalf of all blacks. I can forgive, but I'm not the victim here. What he said hurt a lot of people."
To which one of the hecklers from the Laugh Factory, Kyle Doss said, "If he wanted to apologize, he could've contacted somebody, one of us. But he didn't." Doss and his friend, who had been in a larger, racially mixed group of people celebrating a birthday, now want a cash settlement with an apology. And they're serious - they hired Gloria Allred.
Stanley Crouch has a column in the Daily News: "In the interest of equality, no black comedian should get a pass when using insulting and denigrating words in the middle of an act. It all seems very simple to me. We do not need to accept the conventions of insult and denigration that have been established by black comedians and rappers."
Image from TBS's "very funny downloads" - yes, you can get Kramer wallpaper
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LA=NY?
I guess Michael Richards' PR guy doesn't know his client very well, because Ricards is not Jewish.
http://www.jewishjournal.com/home/preview.php?id=16838
You know, what he did was very crazy and very wrong... but it's just a word. A word, people!
I think it's appropriate that he is chastised for using it in his act (and, for that matter, using anti-Semitic language as well in a different act) but this incident does not mean that he is a complete bigot and an irredeemable person. It is a loathsome word, surely, but stupid mistakes and ugly words do not necessarily make one an evil person. He went off on a 2 minute tirade on a heckler, and used the n-word awfully and repeatedly - but it was only for 5 seconds of his rant. He wasn't attacking the hecklers because they were black... he was attacking them because they were hecklers.
I kinda understand what he was trying to do. It was really stupid, too. But he didn't hurt anyone in particular with his actions, that's for sure. And it's total bullshit to say that he "harmed the black community." You know what harmed the black community? Not sending any fucking help to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. There are people who have no place to live because their homes, their entire neighborhoods are moldy, damaged and rotting. Nationwide there are people living in decrepit neighborhoods, living in high crime zones, living marginalized lives. We, as a country and as a society, let them all down on a repeated basis. Some dude from a sitcom using the n-word on stage doesn't mean shit to anyone.
Maybe if we execute him on Pay-Per-View, it'll help all the black people out a lot, right? Yeah, that'll learn him!
What a load of crap. This story needs to go away and go away fast.
Cash settlement? Are those guys joking?
Jeez, not again, and on Thanksgiving, too.
People, UNTIL your kind were strung up on tree limbs as recently as 50 years ago, then we'll call it even stevens. Til then, it's NOT and I repeat, NOT just a word. Until, Your kind did not need to have Separate waiting areas or eating areas, its NOT just a word.
Can't you people understand that? We're not talking about the 1800's when the IRISH were not allowed, we're talking recent history.
what important news is being overshadowed by this shitty story?
As Crouch said, I want the same kind of outrage and threats to end careers when a Black or Latino comedian uses derogatory language on any other race, including Whites.
There! That should make everybody happy! Although many comedy acts will now suck.
blak bart:
I'm totally aware of the connotation that the word has, and that's why it is very wrong to use it. But in using the word, Michael Richards isn't justifying acts of hatred or violence. Nobody is justifying any of that.
If someone was, then it should be an outrageous, national front-page story like this. If, for example, he said in his comedy routine "You know what we should do? We should hang all the ni##ers like we used to." That would be incredibly awful, much more than this is. And, terribly, there are people who still advocate or trivialize that kind of racial hatred. I would understand the national outrage over things like that.
This incident? He used a very bad word as an expletive. Unjustifiable. But unless someone shows evidence otherwise, this doesn't mean that he intends harm on anyone. There's a difference. And the difference is between a forgettable transgression and a national news story.
I don't care about Michael Richards - if he's killed his career, then so be it. But people need to tone down the bellyaching over inappropriate words and obscenities. Don't make it more than what it is. It promotes distrust and loathing among racial communities, especially when they're publicly mis-represented by blow-hards such as Strom Thurmond and Al Sharpton.
I never knew Gothamist readers actually went to see Black and Hispanic comedians? We've come a long way.
sarcasm off,
You mean there are still black and hispanic comedians who still use "whitey" material? Do you have any proof? or, is this all just what you assume is on BET or HBO specials.
By the way, BET is white owned now.
"cash settlement", huh?.
NIGGERS !!!
It wasn't just the use of the "n-word" that was so offensive, it was the entire tirade that actually brought up some fairly recent historical examples of racially-motivated violence and hatred against blacks. It was nearly the equivalent of making light of the Holocaust in response to a group of Jewish hecklers.
I think what he did was very harmful.
And, Al sharpton has changed, he's always handled himself well in interviews, from Stern to O'Reily.
Again, till your kind was STRUNG up on Trees, this is not just a WORD, for christsakes.
It's Thanksgiving for christsakes, damn you people are bitter. Bitter bout what, who the hell knows?
Yeah, actually, you're right. I forgot about that "upside down with a fork in the butt" comment that he came out with. That was actually pretty bad.
Still, context counts for a lot. Comedians say a lot of outrageous shit that they don't mean. It's part of the act - they're rewarded for offending. You should never cross the racial line, though, because of the repercussions. Virtually anything else is fair game.
Again, I don't care about this guy's career. He fucked up. But once it's been reported, where's the story? How is his apologizing (or not apologizing) going to affect anyone? It won't. Everyone will label him a bigot for life (whether it's true or not) and minorities will continue to use it as evidence that society is against them. And this will continue to happen well past the point where white people are themselves a minority. Fifty years from now, black people may very well be still talking about reparations for slavery and denied civil rights. And only a few centagenarians will have actually been alive when any of that stuff happened, but somehow it'll be put in a present context of drugs, crime, and poverty. All the minorities do it (Japanese internment camps, anyone? Immigrant bigotry?) because it's a great shtick for pushing other agendas. The peace and comfort of those affected is an irrelevant point. This is how loud-mouthed people get on talk shows and get speaking fees - by being outraged and emotionally wounded, to a mass audience.
That said, if this causes some of those Seinfeld residuals to go toward helping poor black communities... that would be a great outcome. So let's harass this idiot until he coughs up some dough!
"Your kind"? And what kind would that be? Believe it or not, white people are no more of a monolithic demographic than blacks are. Racist assumptions...no longer a one-way street. Ah, equality.
Your kind, that's what kind.
The kind who bitches and whines even when they have it good. The kind who never minds their own business. The kind who starts confortations for the sake of confrontation.
Oh, and the kind who rule this country for over 200 years. And, you're still bitching.
Amen, #1. This happened in LA. We should be reading this on LAist!
LAist must not like race baiting as much
ay yi yi.
i'm so tired of this story...but i do think that a cash settlement is ridiculous. if anything, i think some sort of educational program would benefit more from any check that richards could right. education is the problem. oppression, perceived or otherwise, piggybacks on lack of education. obviously, black folk don't rule the country; without access to proper education, we don't have the agency to.
To all of you posters that believe the word "Nigger", Or any derit. of the word is acceptable, Think again ! How would any of you caucasions like to be reffered to as "Honkey's, Crackers,Frosty's White shit, Wonder Bread,or "Bird Shit" ! I don't think any of you would like it at all. Hell I'm not white but I have a real problem saying let alone typing those phrases . He was wrong for saying them, I understand he's a comdien and all. You have to take the abuse people give you with a lump and keep going . It's put of the job buddy, Deal with it .
But black people call each other niggers all the time. I even hear mothers calling their children "little niggers," as in "Tell that little nigger to get his black ass over here." It seems to me that black people have embraced the word "nigger" and use it as a term of endearment. The word "nigger" is used freely in songs as well, and I can honestly say that I hear a black person call another black person a "nigger" at least several times a day.
And, really, "Bitch Niggaz" by Dr. Dre is my absolute favorite song ever. How do I refer to it, or request it on Z100, without being called a racist?
Enough. If black people can call each other niggers (or the jocular "niggiz" or "nigguhz" which are far more pleasing to the ear) so can anyone else. Separate but equal!
"Enough. If black people can call each other niggers (or the jocular "niggiz" or "nigguhz" which are far more pleasing to the ear) so can anyone else. Separate but equal! "
Then why don't you? Why waist your time blogging reasons why you should be able to use the word, "nigga." You must think some is wrong with it or you wouldn't have to question it's use.
I mean, everyone talking about why is it that the N-work can be used sometimes and not be offensive is not looking at the issue with perspective. Its all about context.
For instance, me, and I am sure alot of you, tend to insult my friends alot, abiet jokingly. I may curse at them, but in the spirit of conversation and our history together, its not taken as an insult at all. A gay guy could walk up to a gay another gay guy he knows and say how 'faggy' he's acting and mean nothing by it...however amoung strangers its a totally different story.
In Richards case, it was pure hate speech. Yes, the word may get tossed around alot in general conversation amoung certain people of the urban set, but nobody who watched that tape misunderstood what Richards meant by it.
Again, you guys are trying to give passes based on your own issues.
And Couch, well, He's a moron and this isn't the first time he tried to push down his own agenda with a news story.
Let the whole "if black people say nigger, so can we" excuse go, already. My mother used to call me "fuckface" occasionally (yes, she's an actress, and therefore a little nuts), but does that mean I have no right to react if anyone else calls me a fuckface?
And by the way, black people do not call each other "niggers" all the time. Do you think we sit around the Thanksgiving dinner table calling each other "nigger?" Do you think I would use the word "nigger" in the presence of my grandparents? Do you think we put the kids at the "pickaninny" table?
I'm 38 and have NEVER used the word nigger, even in jest -- and I've never been called a nigger, for that matter, probably because most people, including myself have a large enough vocabulary and enough sense not to use it. As the offended party posited, it's "unnecessary." One can live one's entire life without ever saying nigger.
Public figures have to be careful about what they say, where they say it, and to whom they say it; offending people who are paying you to entertain them is naturally something one should avoid.
let me see.. they bleep the word nigger on the news when talking about this story as if it is a profanity. But the very people whom claim this profanes use it to as a term of endearment,now thats f###ed up