Michael Richards' Racist Tirade - Kramer discovers the "N-word"

[anonymous1980]

Funny clip.

[Sonic Youth]

Son of a bitch. Allred did it.

Richards to Meet Men He Offended
Dec 01 12:41 PM US/Eastern


Michael Richards will apologize in person to the four black men he targeted in a tirade of racial slurs during a recent comedy club performance.

A retired judge will mediate the meeting and determine whether he should take any other action to resolve the matter, Richards' spokesman and an attorney for the men said Friday.

A cash settlement could be part of the resolution, said Howard J. Rubenstein, who represents Richards.

"My client Michael hopes to put it behind him," Rubenstein said.

A time and place for the meeting has not been set.

Rubenstein complimented attorney Gloria Allred, who is representing the four comedy club patrons, for recommending the meeting.

Allred said Richards should meet with her clients "to hear the pain that he inflicted on them and to apologize to them."

She and the four men were scheduled to hold a press conference later Friday.

Richards, who played the wacky neighbor Kramer on 'Seinfeld,' has been on a campaign of contrition since videotaped footage of his Nov. 17 outburst at the Laugh Factory nightclub surfaced on the Web site TMZ.com.

He has apologized on the Rev. Jesse Jackson's nationally syndicated radio program "Keep Hope Alive" and the "Late Show with David Letterman." He also apologized to civil rights leader the Rev. Al Sharpton.

Richards has said the tirade was fueled by anger at being heckled and not bigotry.

[Big Magilla]

It's an old show biz adage that any publicity, good or bad, helps sell tickets.

What we have to look forward to: Mel Gibson's Apocalypto going through the roof and Britney Spears' next album selling in the millions. Some days I think we'd be better off if our ancestors had never left the cave.

[Sonic Youth]

'SEINFELD' SOARS ON RACIST RANT
By DON KAPLAN
NEW YORK POST

November 30, 2006 -- THE K-K-Kramer scandal murdered Michael Richards' career - but it's doing wonders for sales of the latest "Seinfeld" DVD.

Season 7 of the popular sitcom is outselling the Season 6 set (released on the same day last year) by more than 75 percent, and more than 90 percent over season 5 at some online DVD retailers, according to TMZ.com.

On Barnes and Nobel's Web site, the DVD set is the sixth-best selling and Amazon ranks it in 12th place.

"I think the only explanation that could be is that there's a Kramer curiosity factor," says Dr. Robert Thompson, director of Syracuse University's Center for the Study of Popular Television.

"I can understand that, after what happened, there's a resurgent interest in 'Seinfeld,' and that seems to be expressing itself through people watching the show more and buying more DVDs.

"Boy, is it ever weird to watch 'Seinfeld' now," Thompson added.

Richards "carries baggage, when you see this happy-go-lucky guy barge into that apartment and talk about being 'master of his domain.' That really means something different now."

A video-phone recording of Richards exploding in a hateful, racist rant while performing his stand-up comedy act earlier this month leaked onto the Internet just days before the season 7 DVD set was released.

-----------------------------------

Gotta love that doctor of television.

[Sonic Youth]

The families of the 20,000 victims killed in the Bhopal industrial disaster in India deserve the reparations withheld from them for twenty years. Seems more pressing to me.

I do hope they were refunded their admission money, though.

[OscarGuy]

Personally, I'm sick and tired of this entire thing. I never liked Michael Richards. I hated him deeply from the first moment I saw him on Seinfeld. He's an idiot for stooping to a heckler's level.

Has anyone noticed that a lot of young people are using the term "that's so gay" as a negative descriptor of something they don't like? It annoys the #### out of me and offends me deerly. It went from being a term for happiness to a term of derision and I think it's the most prevalent problem we have when it comes to terminology.

I'm sorry, the whole n-word thing is tired. There's no one who doesn't know what it means and when used in any manner of anger, it should be considered intolerable. However, it's your right to say whatever you feel you have to...taking it to court is the most assinine thing I've ever heard.

[flipp525]

I don't condone racism and I think that Michael Richards' comments are deplorable, but is it just me or is there a double standard at work here? I'd like to see someone complain about Chris Rock's or Dave Chappelle's liberal use of the word "cracker" in reference to white people. Or is it only white comedians who aren't allowed to make racist jokes?

I see what you guys are saying but I hardly think that the term "cracker" even comes close to the loaded N-word. Has anyone been seriously and profoundly disturbed and offended after having heard "cracker"? Have you ever literally winced at its utterance? Does the term carry with it decades of repression, intolerance, and pain; does it call forth images of black men swinging from trees, Nina Simone's "Strange Fruit" playing in the background? Does it make you sick to your stomach? These are all things I've heard from my black friends in reaction to hearing the "N-word" (which I can't even bring myself to type). Can black people be racist? Of course. Are the terms comparable? I'd argue no.

From a personal standpoint, a comparable slur would be "faggot", a word I've only recently felt comfortable enough to reclaim as a term that was previously used to subjugate me, a rationale I believe many black people cite when trying to use the N-word themselves.

And rather than a challenge to the First Amendment, I see a potential lawsuit and reparations as more of a necessary exposure of a some deep racist, bigoted veins running through this country which have lately brought us everything from the Katrina response to Mel Gibson's drunken tirade to, now, this despicable display of intolerance.

[Franz Ferdinand]

Exactly Wes, white people are constant butts of jokes from black comedians. Should we allow it because we oppressed them for so long a hundred (well, maybe a couple dozen) years ago? Richards' outburst was unbelievably stupid, but his "career" is already irrevocably damaged, and Seinfeld's legacy may be tarnished in the long run - it's probably enough of a price to pay to be known as the Screaming Racist for the rest of his life. Just let it go and stop giving him the airtime.

[MovieWes]

I don't condone racism and I think that Michael Richards' comments are deplorable, but is it just me or is there a double standard at work here? I'd like to see someone complain about Chris Rock's or Dave Chappelle's liberal use of the word "cracker" in reference to white people. Or is it only white comedians who aren't allowed to make racist jokes?

I personally think that he should be forced to apologize, but monetary compensation seems a bit excessive. If the judge orders Richards to pay damages, then it will be a sad day for America. I wasn't aware that being a racist asshole made one liable for a lawsuit. There goes the First Amendment.

[Damien]

Jackie Mason made his comment in the context of endorsing the Evil Giuliani over David Dinkins in Giuliani's wonderfully unsuccessful first run for mayor in 1989. So fuc k that creepy little man.

[Sabin]

I'm saying there's always one massive groaner of a step too far near the end. I grew up in a family that adored Jackie Mason, and while I was burnt out on the guy when I was 16, I certainly respect his stand-up, and in another decade maybe even enjoy it.

Looking back, comparing what Michael Richards has done to Jackie Mason is way off base for several reasons, the first being that Mason's schvartze bit was a miscalculation in the sense that it was precalculated, whereas Richards wasn't entirely thinking. Not really an apt comparison then.

[Damien]

Oh Jesus, they hired Gloria Allred.

A friend of mine was on the other side of a Gloria Allred law suit. What an execrable excuse for a human being that loathesome publicity whore/media slut is.

[Sonic Youth]

Back in the day. How'd working blue work out for Jackie Mason? And he only said schvartze.

(incidentally, I think schvartze is the most adorable racial euphamism. It's more senile than offensive)

It worked out great for him until that gaffe. He was one of the best, before he got old and weird.

Are you saying Jewish comedians are not capable of edginess, or are you saying it seems like they're the ones who get in trouble? Because you could write a book on all the great, filthy, edgy Jewish comedians bristling with chutzpah.

[Sonic Youth]

Oh Jesus, they hired Gloria Allred.

And they were 'captives'.


Men Seek Apology From Ex-'Seinfeld' Star
Nov 24, 5:58 PM (ET)

By ROBERT JABLON

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Two men who say they were insulted by actor-comedian Michael Richards during his racist rant at a comedy club want a personal apology and maybe some money, their lawyer said Friday.

The men, Frank McBride and Kyle Doss, said they were part of a group of about 20 people who had gathered at West Hollywood's Laugh Factory to celebrate a friend's birthday. According to their attorney, Gloria Allred, they were ordering drinks when Richards berated them for interrupting his act.

When one of their group replied that he wasn't funny, Richards launched into a string of obscenities and repeatedly used the n-word. A video cell phone captured the outburst.

Richards, who played Jerry Seinfeld's wacky neighbor Kramer on the TV sitcom "Seinfeld," made a nationally televised apology on David Letterman's "Late Night" show earlier this week. He has since apologized to civil rights leaders the Rev. Jesse Jackson and the Rev. Al Sharpton.

But Allred complained Friday that he "has not apologized to his victims directly, face to face, man to man."

Richards' publicist said his client wants to apologize to both men, who are black, but hasn't been able to locate them.

Allred, speaking by phone from Colorado, said Richards should meet McBride and Doss in front of a retired judge to "acknowledge his behavior and to apologize to them" and allow the judge to decide on monetary compensation.

"It's not enough to say 'I'm sorry,'" she said.

She did not mention a specific figure, but pitched the idea as a way for the comic to avoid a lawsuit.

"Our clients were vulnerable," Allred said. "He went after them. He singled them out and he taunted them, and he did it in a closed room where they were captive."

The video of Richards' outburst shows several people getting up and walking out as he shouts at the audience.

Richards' publicist said the comic wasn't considering any demand for payment. "He's not dealing with that," Howard Rubenstein said. "He wants to apologize to them directly and then see what happens."

[Sabin]

Back in the day. How'd working blue work out for Jackie Mason? And he only said schvartze.

(incidentally, I think schvartze is the most adorable racial euphamism. It's more senile than offensive)