Michael Richards a.k.a. Kramer goes off on "n***ers"

[james1200]

Wow...Michael Richards is one angry, sad man. He was heckled by a couple of Black guys while doing his stand-up and, well, see for yourselves. I know white people use the word nigger all the time but apparently Richards also fantasizes about hanging us in trees.



What's funny is the audience is amused by his wanting to hang them in trees...but as soon as he said "nigger", that was it.

 

[gabriel1]

WOW! -- I always thought he was a slimeball,even in Seinfeld. But I wasn't laughing at the hanging in trees either..

 

[wentworth]

His audience was laughing for quite a while.
Hey, james, this is a repost. However, the other thread seems to be "lost".

 

[Backlum-Chaam]

I know white people use the word nigger all the time...

What led you to that conclusion?

 

[james1200]

His audience was laughing for quite a while.
Hey, james, this is a repost. However, the other thread seems to be "lost".

my bad. i swear i did look in hot topics first and i didn't see it.

What led you to that conclusion?

common sense. i don't think they all use it in what they think is a negative way necessairly. my cousins who are white on my dad's side use the word all the time and it's cause they think they're black...they're not being malicious.

there is also an italian comedian named lisa campenelli who uses the word all the time and it doesn't bug me cause i know it doesn't come from a hateful place, as strange as that may sound. what's disturbing about this retard richards is the "hanging from the trees 50 years ago" comment. i mean he's jewish, right? he'd be hanging there 50 years ago too. freak.

 

[bma1983]

What's funny is the audience is amused by his wanting to hang them in trees...but as soon as he said "nigger", that was it.

That did not escape my attention when I first saw this on TV.

 

[Backlum-Chaam]

common sense. i don't think they all use it in what they think is a negative way necessairly. my cousins who are white on my dad's side use the word all the time and it's cause they think they're black...

Whose common sense?

When you say "they", are you referring to all whites?

It sounds like your "common sense" is based on your cousins, and their family link to you and your mom provides context that's a lot different than most other whites. You're basing it on something very anecdotal, rather than any facts or stats about all (or even most) whites.

I'm not saying this to defend Michael Richards at all, it's just that your comment jumped out at me as a pretty big generalization.

 

[PreTTy PeTe]

wow what a sad and pathetic man.

 

[eddielee]

Was he drunk, or just stupid? I would not have expected him to say something like that. The audience did laugh at first, because the're used to getting "shocked" by comedians. "Kramer" crossed the line and went from shocking to offensive. The shock waves from this is going to hurt his career.

 

[james1200]

wow what a sad and pathetic man.

if he was PreTTy like PeTe and not ugly like kramer he wouldn't be so bitter.

so since richards is jewish, should he be punished by having mel gibson abuse him verbally?

 

[PreTTy PeTe]

if he was PreTTy like PeTe and not ugly like kramer he wouldn't be so bitter.

so since richards is jewish, should he be punished by having mel gibson abuse him verbally?

no Mel should nail him to the cross and burn it.

 

[GL]

Good Grief! Well, his career was already on the decline. Now it just fell from a 50 story building. Maximum checkout. Street Pizza.

 

[elmatador_adrian]

This is way of bounds in what is tolerated in public. Comedians can get away with making jokes that we all laugh when we know we shouldn't, however it seems like he was out control. I would hate to be is agent trying to do damage control. Even if he is truly sorry, he will always be known for Kramer and now this ugly episode.

 

[NedNickerson]

 

[Theyoungman]

I turned off the cound since I knew it would be ugly for my ears to bare. I used to like that guy on Seinfield...

Although, I looked up the word nigger in the dictionary a while back. I took out the part with black people involved, so now i use nigger as a name for people who behave extremely ignorant... like street thugs and people who follow in their foot steps... Thats about it.

Everyone else is ok.

I find it funny how black people get offended when they are called nigger, but alot of the call eachother niggas. Its basically the same word.

Actualy, black people cal eachother alot of stupid names. Like dawg, cats, along with nigga. Funny how its all connected to the names white people used to call them.

Anyway. I didn't like that video and I'm very upset that he would say such things openly like that.

 

[tx_doc]

When I watched it, because some of the audience was laughing I was thinking that it was edited out so we don't know what the whole scene was. We don't know if he was using an example, but when we went on and on and on and the audience laughs started sounding forced, it was obviously showing him to be having some kind of breakdown.
And just because other black people call each other nigger, please do not assume that I won't get offended if you do to the same to me. I have a friend who used it once when referring to some woman who cut him off on the road and I popped him in the mouth.
oh, and to james1200 up there.... it's Lisa Lampanelli.

 

[buvelot]

I never used to watch Seinfeld because I didn't find it funny, but I am aware of it being a really popular show and I was aware of the character called Kramer.

Earlier today I watched the footage of Richards going off during his comedy routine. I have to say I couldn't clearly hear much of what he said. But then I read a transcript and I was amazed that he would think that kind of thing at all, let alone verbalise it publicly. It's very offensive, and also kind of sad that he would let himself down like that.

Maybe I'm naive but I do like to think that those of us who know what it's like to come from a persecuted or at least down-trodden group ought to be able to empathise with each other. Somehow when Jewish people, or gay people, or black people, or disabled people come out with hurtful or offensive things, it seems even more shocking than if an Anglo, Right-wing man had said the same thing - because it's more unexpected.

 

[Backlum-Chaam]

It's called repossessing a word.

No, I would call it the attempt to repossess a word.

Most of us are aware of the PC theory behind black usage of "n*gger". Word repossession, "spelling it differently makes it a different word", etc, etc. I think the point is that many of us do not buy such theories.

The logic breaks down when you take a closer look at what you said: "Yeah you can call me that..." Actually, no, you cannot call blacks that, which is the point. It is an offense. And still is. The word means a lot more than "nothing", it is still one of the most charged hate-words in the English language. The PC excuse that black usage strips the word of it's "power" is false, since clearly the word has quite the same power it always has (if not more, considering that in the old pre-Civil Rights era, white supremacy was a given, Southern politicians were openly and proudly racist, and there would have been no collective shock or controversy if a man like Richards had uttered the same word back then.)

The word's power certainly isn't stripped when it can still clear a room the way it did for Richards on that video, and when it still causes such controversy simply for being uttered. That was the whole point of Richard's (misguided) "humor" in the video when he talks sarcastically about how "shocking" it all is. I'm guessing that in his head, he was critiquing "black humor" - the problem is that his "joke" fell flat, and there's no amount of explaining that will help him wiggle out of how his "humor" came across in that video.

 

[Corkles]

Yikes. What a fucking nightmare.

I always hope people get over their racial prejudices and then I get constantly reminded how far people HAVE NOT come.

Depressing.

 

[cocktales]

UNBELIVABLE!!

I saw Jerry Seinfeld on Letterman tonight, where he had a satellite link up with this fellow, who apologized to everyone for his mistake(s)!

NOT good enough, I don't think!

I don't know Michael Richards that well; but he knows better than to let some heckler get to him.

.........like he's been around long enough to realize just how evil hecklers can be when they drink and interrupt their stand-up; but geees, what he did was the biggest fuckin mistake of his life......

I know Jerry was trying to save his white ass on Letterman; but I don't think it will work, do you?

I am offended and I am white for goodness sake!

I think he must do something MORE than that apology on TV to those he hurt to the quick!

.......and, I will NOT get into the other discussion..........I know, I'm a fraddy cat! lol