Kramer's Bigot Eruption

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All I can say is...wow. This, especially if you are a Seinfeld fan, is shocking to say the least.

Warning: Salty Language

For those who don't want to be offended audio-visually: Michael Richards, famous for his role as "Kramer" on the hit 90's sitcom Seinfeld, is filmed here telling a black heckler precisely what he thinks of him.

The jerk store called...they're all outta you. /end George Kostanza

Discuss.

EDIT - I'd just like to add that though unfortunately, when someone is talking on a cell/blabbing out loud (very rude) during a movie or performance here in the states, in my experience, 9 times out of 10 that person happens to be black, and it is extremely annoying...Richards takes it way, WAY too far. Yikes.

 

The blabbing/cell phone usage at movie theaters happens far too often and it is more than annoying. And from my experience the blabbing comes most often from black patrons.

I took my young nephews to see 'Garfield' and we were disturbed for the entire movie by three loudly blabbing adult patrons. They left and came back three times once for popcorn, once who knows why, and the third time returned smelling strongly of pot. At one point one of them yelled excitedly: "oooooh, Jon's gonna get him some pu**y!".....I did what I always do in those situations - I ate it. A confrontation, especially in front of nephews, would benefit no one in the end.
I don't go to movie theaters anymore, I've had enough.

Richards was obviously pushed past his tolerance for bullsh*t and decided he wasn't going to eat it anymore. Although he handled the situation poorly, I think most people can identify with his frustration, seeing how rudeness seems to be a raging epidemic here in the U.S.

He could have handled it effectively and more gracefully by speaking to management and having the patron silenced or removed.

 

All I saw of it was what was aired on CNN tonight. I can't install the software to view DR's provided video.

Now, I didn't hear anything to 'provoke' Michael - heckling, noisy phones, etc. So the first thing I hear is him screaming N-word, N-word, N-word.

I hope he enjoyed his career while it lasted.

The comedy club did the right thing to ban Michael from ever appearing again, though I'm at a loss as to why he was able to perform a second show there.

 

He officially said sorry for his outburst in The Late Show, together with Seinfeld himself.

But then we can begin talking if he meant every word? After all, the truth comes from drunk people and children .. and perhaps anger? Who knows - the official sorry could be the same as Mel Gibson's. Just to save his carrer

 

So we had Mels anti-jew outburst and Richards anti-negro outburst. Who's next on the hollywood list and who will the be slurring of at? And when do you reckon an online game about this incident will be released? I played the Mel gibson one on compfused.com and it was pretty good.

 

Actually, I'm not surprised at all. My mom used to baby-sit the kids of the art director for 'Married With Children'. When he would come to pick his kids up, he would stay and chat for a bit. I remember him saying that he helped on the set of a few Seinfeld episodes and got to meet the cast. I specifically remember him saying that Michael Richards was a total ass in every sense of the word. Just a very rude, self absolved jerk. It's kind of hard to imagine seeing him as Kramer...but the proof just hit the fan...so to speak.

 

Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UomfLKQr57U

 

A theory I've recently read - which does make sense - is that Richards isn't necessarily a racist, but rather in his anger and frustration, he said the absolute most offensive thing he could directed at the offender, for maximum effect. It's petty and childish, to be sure - but more understandable. If some macho jerk insults you, for example, you may be inclined to call him a "fag" (in a quick internal assessment of "what could I say right now to hurt this person the most?") if your anger gets the best of you, despite not being a homophobe or considering that person gay. It does happen when otherwise ordinary people snap.

I don't believe that Jerry Seinfeld would have jumped to his defense so quickly if he were really such a belligerent racist. Seinfeld has a near impeccable reputation and wouldn't jeopardize it for someone he knew to be so genuinely hateful. I'm inclined to believe Richard's recent mea culpa, though not excusing the act.

As for Richards' career being over after this..."The Michael Richards Show" put the tag on that toe 6 years ago. It's hard for a career to go from dead to dead. Ask Pauly Shore.

 

Well, he basically BOMBED as a stand-up comedian; he DID deal with an interruption, and subsequently a heckler, but he did so in a completely UNfunny way.

He *could* have dealt with this issue in a wholely different fashion, and actually been a COMEDIAN and ad-libbed something that'd have made the crowd laugh (and maybe even the cell-phone user - I've seen stand-up bits where the performer gets the butt of the joke laughing )

Sorry to sound disparaging, but that's his JOB. He lost his temper (which apparently he has had trouble with), got insulting to part of his audience, lost the rhythm of his performance and basically bombed big time.

To draw an internet parallel, he not only 'fed the troll' he slathered himself with BBQ sauce and jumped right into the troll's mouth!

It might've been interesting to BE in the audience to watch him self-destruct like this in person, in a schadenfreude-esque 'Jerry Springer' way, but in all, I don't think it's worthy of the uproar or even think he's a racist; I'm just disappointed.

But at this point, my Inner Cynic™ pipes up and reminds me that every person on the planet is falible, the species as a whole is pretty pointless and inherently self-destructive, and there's not much point in getting worked up about anything anymore; why should I be surprised?

 

To me his apology seemed genuine, but I guess there's no way to know.

That's something I thought about as well. I hope that's the case.

 

You know, you would think as a NEGRO i would be offended by this, but I really dont care.

 

Agreed, I do this all the time. Even if in retrospect it sounds stupid (no, not controversial, just stupid ) if at the time you think it'll piss the guy off more, you'll say it. It's like calling someone a midget because you know for a fact that it will piss them off even though I myself am only 5'5"

 

Interestingly, this event is giving new momentum to a grassroots efforts among black comedians and other public figures to stop using the word "nigger", either amongst themselves or as part of their acts.

 

whaaaa??? If Chris Rock and Dave Chapelle stop using it, it will seriously suck :/ I think the "Rush Hour" standard can still be applied here, Chris Tucker can say "What's up my nigger?" to another negro (I'm in Southeast Asia, so if this term is even remotely offensive, please forgive me and give me a more "politically correct" term) because he belongs to the same racial group and Jackie can't because he doesn't.

imo at least, when you lump yourself in with the group that the term refers to it counts more as self-deprecating humor whereas if you use the term and exclude yourself from it, it comes of more as showing contempt.

 

the fact that the blackman answers back with the same kind of racial slurs kinda killed my sympathy. the black man goes to a show, sits and interrupt the entertainer, Richards then definetly cross a line by being so agressive, but the black man aint better himself when he calls richard a Cracker and white boy.

the real end for Richards lies in him not being able to joke the interruptions away. i meen most stand-up comedians could have put focus on the interrupters and simply humiliated them to silence, in a fun way, without crossing that line.

But richards hardly come off as a racist in my eyes, just a man loosing his temper with some very rude audience, who retaliates by using just as bad racist comments.

 

From what little I have seen this has been blown way out of proportion. Richards replied to a heckler and from what little I saw he did it with sarcasm and irony consciously exaggerating his replies.

 

what it seems like is he referes to how it was 50 years ago and then try to joke about it, the main problem is he sounds to aggresive when doing so and keeps it going after the joke had died. that said, the joke wasn't bad, it just came out wrong