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Maybe a few people in the audience thought it was some sort of gag and we're laughing for that reason? I think he has subconscious racist feelings that surfaced in a fit of rage. His conscious self may be saying "I'm not a racist!". I also think that he used the derogatory race card because he was feeling that was his only way to win, instead of feeling beat down, against the hecklers. Geez...that was awkward. He's clearly concerned about it. His apology seemed sincere, although, he talked about Katrina victims and fundraising for it. Yet, he wasn't involved, or didn't acknowlege to being involved, in those efforts. He is aware of those efforts, though, just to drive his point home of why he is crazy for saying it at that time. It's just sad. There's never a time to say anything like that. It wasn't even appropriate back when it was accepted by racist America. We all say he is stupid and crazy for saying what he said. Or, he wasn't thinking clearly about the repurcussions of speaking his real mind. That's a pretty good way to turn a whole race of people against you, though. Man. In the end, I will take his word that he had a crazy rage/spell and didn't mean it. I think he should see a shrink, though. There may be some subconscious feelings there that surfaced due to a trigger...maybe even some repressed feelings that carried over from his childhood. "Seinfeld" just doesn't feel the same now. Season seven? Psss.
Didn't really get to see how the spat got started. But here's one thing.. if I ever heckled someone at a club, or at a concert, or any kind of performance, i'd expect the LEAST of what would happen to me is a stout asskicking and being thrown out on my ear. being called a racial slur would be pretty light treatment, instead of getting my face pounded in by bouncers..
Here's my take: I enjoy the foulest of jokes. I truly do. I enjoy calling one of my best friends the "N" word, even when it makes my friends cringe. I am an ass. That said, Michael (Kramer) was absolutely out of line. What he stated wasn't comedic. It was vicious, and angry. And therein lies the issue. I wish we could've seen what was stated beforehand. I hate only getting one side of the story. Even so, I don't think this necessarily makes him racist. But I do think this killed his career. I simply would like to live in a world that sees people on such an equal basis that we can call each other names. I guess it's only in my circle of friends, so far.
honestly, i thought it was kind of staged. i guess i just have to watch this letterman thing. if it wasnt staged, i would think he was just embarassed at being caught in a situation like that, where someone who was trying to embarrass him, actually managed to embarrass him, in public. and he got visibly angry and just wanted the other person to be equally angry too, so he went for the easiest way to anger that person.
People need to get real. Don't get all bent out of shape and rally behind some idiots that don't deserve your support. The truth that nobody wants to admit . . . I tend to think those hecklin' fools probably got exactly what they deserved. I'm willing to bet they were behaving in the true definition of n*gg*rs. Yeah, I said it. If they were white and some obscure black comedian (let's say Bill Belamy) was being heckled, I think most would be okay with them being called out as white trash. You'd feel it, and I'd feel it. As a black man, I'm more offended at black people actin' a damn fool in public, especially in a forum where the color of our skin is easily relatable and subsequently gives me a bad name on shallow association. In my mind, I'm callin' them n*gg*rs too . . . Because they are. So don't feel sorry for those fools. It's not like Michael Richards walked into Brookhollow on Sunday Morning and started spitting racial slurs. Was he right, was he wrong? . . . I honestly can't say. But I'm not offended, because he wasn't talkin' to me. He was talkin' to the trifling losers who were harassing him. Those jokers weren't innocent bystanders.
I really hope you are black. I agree to an extent. The same way we sit in our cars and when some fat girl in a mini-van cuts in front of us, we let out the most viscious expletives we can think of. We do it to everyone in that way in that manner. The biggest problem Kramer had was forgetting that there are things you can think in private, and there are things you can say in public, much less a forum, as he was in. Regardless of what they said, he should've known better than to react in that way. As the "professional" he is, at least. He lost his career on that. Period.
First of all, you made the assumption of what the hecklers did based on what? Words from the crazy man himself? I don't care what the hecklers did. As a professional, Michael Richards was out of the line, period. It's like the Ron Artest incident, just because other people act like a fool, doesn't give you the right to be a racist.
Many people harass comedians, not just black men, and don't deserve that kind of treatment. If these guys weren't using racial ephitets to harass Richards, the he sure as hell isn't warranted in using them to get back at them. Furthermore the f*cking simplistic and relatively harmless action of "heckling" does NOT warrant them being call n*ggers. Man, what the hell are you thinking saying that? We have enough hardships and double standards against us without people like you suddenly giving racist whites free passes to use racial slurs against us when we behave in what they view as an unsavory manner. We have just as much a right to be mildly annoying without being reminded of this nation's terrible legacy of oppression, degredation, and outright murder of our race (yes, the word carries that much power and meaning. And yes, that's why Richards chose to use it) as the next man. Also, if you're so concerned about how others may associate you with the men who heckled Richards, based solely on your skin collor, I suggest you re-arrange your priorities and begin examining why it is you value so highly the opinions of people that would judge you in such a manner- and not restrict the freedom of these brothers to act as they damn well please (within reason) without recieving racial slurs hurled at them. Honestly, this rediculous argument reeks of the old House slave dutifullly hoping massa doesn't associate him with thouse uncouth "field n*ggers" out there, too ignorant to realize that they're all in the same boat. I don't believe that accurately describes you or your position, but you have to see the blatant similarities. This is going straight to the D&D.
So is it the fact that "Kramer" is a professional and reacted this way that really bothers people? I suppose it would have been okay though if it was amateur night on the mic? Don't get all upset with the man calling it how he see's it. My thoughts on this would be totally different if he went around calling little kids names in his free time. And you know what? . . . Maybe he does. I admittedly cannot speak on that. But I can speak on his reply to some stupid mf's screwing with him. Bottom line, this was not uncalled for. Don't get all emotional over the word. Were they or were they not? . . . I have a strange feeling they were.
Sad as it may seem, it does entirely depend on the words used. The "N" word has been a bastion on both the whites and the blacks of recent years. I do recall when I was in a predominantly black elementary school in Baytown that the darker kids with big hair could whoop my ass. It wasn't predjudiced... It was what a 6 yr. old noticed. My dad was raised in a family that was your typical 40's family. He chose not to propogate that on us. To this day, I can't honestly recall a time my dad has said the "N" word. My predjudices are mine, alone. Anyone who pretends that we all aren't different is kidding themselves. And yet, we are all equal, and should be treated as such. Just because someone says something stupid doesn't make that change, and shouldn't inflame an entire community. If you don't like what Michael Richards said, ban him. That's what we do.
Look, I come from the position of not being incited by the word as well. I don't really let it get to me either, because that whqat the person using it wants. At the same time, you have to consider the person using it. In this case, Richards knew the connotations of the word n*gger. He knew the history, the violence and death that stand behind it's meaning, and he flaunted it in a purposely offensive manner. This is all started by his "50 years ago...fork up your ass" line. In essence, he was taking everything that the word represents, not just the two syllables and five letters that comprise the word, but the history at it's very core, which remains powerfully hurtful to this very day, and threw it at these men, at all of us, in a dangerously casual and viscous manner. It's not about just the word in this instance, it about Richards saying "your people endured 400 years of incredible hardship, hardship that has stunted your progress in innumerable ways to this very day, hardships that allowed you to be raped and lynched without a second thought, hardships that have directly led to your disadvantaged place within society as of today, and because you've heckled me during my stand-up routine, I think you deserved every bit of it," ...all by simply adding the word n*gger. This is why it was uncalled for, and why we can't stand for it. Not because of the word itself, but because of the way Richards intended it (again, this is all in conjunction with the "50 years ago" line)
You're really gonna go to bat for these brothers? Out of all the efforts to champion, don't stand up for some dudes (I don't care what color they are) who were playing the part that they got called out on. I don't know if Michael Richards is a racist. And admittedly I don't know how mildly annoying or misbehaving those guys were. But sometimes we all need to check ourselves. When someone says something like that . . . You have to ask yourself, am I conducting myself in a manner fit for the definition of a n*gg*r or white trash, etc? If you're not . . . Either shake it off, and keep steppin', or get upset and really do something about it. But if you are . . . Well then I suggest growing up and joining the 21st century and adjusting to civilization accordingly. Black folk have had it hard through the years. Black folk still have it hard today. And Black folk have it even harder when stupid @ss n*gg*rs come out on parade. If these guys were just minding their own business and chillin, then put me down for an immediate apology. But if they were trying to be cute, screwing around at the expense of someone, they get what they get . . . Thankfully, I'm not in that boat.
Absolutely uncalled for, and incredibly inappropriate. I just wish we knew what they were saying before-hand. Who knows? Maybe they were heckling that he was a washed-up reject has-been for the past hour ad-nauseum. The fact is that deep down, he knows it's true. If I were on top of the world and had a couple of drunks kicking me verbally while I was down, I wouldn't go to expletives, I'd either kick their ass, or (if they were bigger than me) I'd say I'll be back in a sec. and have the morons escorted out. Regardless, Kramer F'ed up, bigtime.
