The Jerk Store Called.

[Analogman]

Any white person who used the n-word and claims they're not a racist is suffering from severe self-delusion at best. You need help, man.

 

 

Unless they are white kids acting like black kids, of course.

[viatroy]

nigger, wop, spic, jap, kike, etc etc etc. Any utterance along those lines would

be cause for a severe beatdown in my house as a kid. (And I mean the "I'm

disappointed in you etc etc" verbal beatdown.)

 

As use of the 'n' word has become more publicly pervasive --

and white kids clamor for cool by aping hiphop -- it's not

surprising it's heard more and more in common speech, and

people thinks its okay to say. "Nigga please" for example.

 

 

It still turns my stomach ever time I hear it.

[ponch1028]

This word is still divisive - who would have thought that even African-Americans would be split on its use in everyday conversation.

 

I don't like the word. Don't like it when African-Americans use it, certainly don't like it when non-blacks use it. Think it's a horrible word and should not be used in any modern context. It should only stick around for us to remember the racist mistakes humanity has made in the past and hopefully can avoid in the present and future. This is one of the few words in the world where I personally have a hard time not judging someone critically if they use it. I'm all for free-speech, but I can't help but look down on someone when they use this word. If the contemporary black community want to claim it and use it in a different way, they have every right to do so, but I think it's a horrible mistake. It baffles me that anyone would want to hear this word or use it.

 

Maybe Michael Richards and Mel Gibson can collaborate on a reinterpretation of the Passion of the Christ where all the Jews are portrayed by African-Americans.

[WilcoFan]

I heard the audio on the radio this morning. At first I thought he was trying to be funny, after that I'm not sure. I would have to see the video. -- I noticed one thing, the crowd was laughing. Are they are racists too?

[jakobnicholas]

I'm not sure how those words came out of Richards' mouth. It's inexcusable.

 

 

But, personally, I don't think it was an anti-black rant. It was an anti-heckler rant. If the hecklers were Asian, he would have used an Asian slur. Or if the hecklers were twangy-talking hicks, he may have bashed rednecks. I think he got to a very weird point in his mind that, once he snapped, he decided to offend the idiot hecklers as extreme and hateful as he could possibly imagine. I noticed on Lettermen that Richards used the word "hate" a few times. I think he felt massive hatred directed at himself, and wanted to hate back.

 

I hope the entertainment world accepts his apology and that he's able to continue working.

[Serak_the_Preparer]

I'm not sure how those words came out of Richards' mouth. It's inexcusable.

But, personally, I don't think it was an anti-black rant. It was an anti-heckler rant. If the hecklers were Asian, he would have used an Asian slur. Or if the hecklers were twangy-talking hicks, he may have bashed rednecks. I think he got to a very weird point in his mind that, once he snapped, he decided to offend the idiot hecklers as extreme and hateful as he could possibly imagine. I noticed on Lettermen that Richards used the word "hate" a few times. I think he felt massive hatred directed at himself, and wanted to hate back.

 

I hope the entertainment world accepts his apology and that he's able to continue working.

 

I think I agree with this. When I watched the video it seemed first that he was just trying to shock the heckler into submision, but then it turned into a crazy rant. But I do agree that he would have gone off on anyone at that moment, black, white, yellow, purple, or green. He probably needs some anger management help.

[LouieB]

(most of) the rest of the country can call a spade a spade.

Hey now...

Any white person who used the n-word and claims they're not a racist is suffering from severe self-delusion at best. You need help, man.

Absolutely.....

i call people crackers all the time too, does that mean i hate white people?

Calling a white person a cracker may not be as bad as the "n word" but it also can't be construed as in good taste either....

 

LouieB

[Sir Stewart]

i say "the n word" all the time and one of my best friends is black.

[augurus]

The jerk store called and both parties are equally at fault.

Or did you forget about the inappropriate and disruptive hecklers?

And Richards treated them like they would treat him: equally nasty.

 

In other news, your mom.

[Sir Stewart]

I think augurus has a good point. From the rage-heavy manner in which Richards pointed and yelled "Look! He's a nigger!" I feel he was trying to make the talkers as pissed off as he possibly could. Not excusing it, but it doesn't look like a cut-and-dry case of his racist tendencies coming to a head.

[Analogman]

By LYNN ELBER, AP Television Writer

41 minutes ago

 

LOS ANGELES - He called two black hecklers the "n-word" and enthusiastically referenced a time when blacks were often victims of civil rights abuses, but Michael Richards said his verbal barrage during a stand-up routine was fueled by anger and not bigotry.

 

"For me to be at a comedy club and flip out and say this crap, I'm deeply, deeply sorry," the former "Seinfeld" co-star said during a satellite appearance for David Letterman's "Late Show" in New York.

 

"I'm not a racist. That's what's so insane about this," Richards said, his tone becoming angry and frustrated as he defended himself.

 

Richards described himself as going into "a rage" over the two audience members who interrupted his act Friday at the Laugh Factory in West Hollywood.

 

His explanation was reminiscent of Mel Gibson's assertion that he wasn't anti-Semitic after he let off a barrage of Jewish slurs during a traffic stop last summer: despite what came out of his mouth, that's not what is inside him.

 

Industry colleagues were in no hurry to accept Richards' apology.

 

"Once the word comes out of your mouth and you don't happen to be African-American, then you have a whole lot of explaining," comedian Paul Rodriguez, who was at the Laugh Factory during Richards' performance, told CNN. "Freedom of speech has its limitations and I think Michael Richards found those limitations."

 

Veteran publicist Michael Levine, whose clients have included comedians George Carlin, Sam Kinison and Rodney Dangerfield, called Richards' remarks inexcusable. Comics often face hecklers without losing their cool, he said.

 

"I've never seen anything like this in my life," Levine said Monday. "I think it's a career ruiner for him. ... It's going to be a long road back for him, if at all."

 

His Laugh Factory tirade began after the two clubgoers shouted at him that he wasn't funny. A videotape of the incident was posted on TMZ.com.

 

Richards retorted: "Shut up! Fifty years ago we'd have you upside down with a f------ fork up your a--."

 

He then paced across the stage taunting the men for interrupting his show, peppering his speech with racial slurs and profanities.

 

"You can talk, you can talk, you're brave now mother------. Throw his a-- out. He's a n-----!" Richards shouts before repeating the racial epithet over and over again.

 

Moderating his tone at one point, Richards tells the audience, "It shocks you, it shocks you" and refers to "what lays buried."

 

While there is some chuckling in the audience throughout the outburst, someone can be heard gasping "Oh my God" and people respond with "ooh" after Richards uses the n-word.

 

Eventually someone calls out: "It's not funny. That's why you're a reject, never had no shows, never had no movies. `Seinfeld,' that's it."

 

Richards deserved the chance to apologize, Jerry Seinfeld said on the "Late Show."

 

"He's someone that I love and I know how shattered he is about" what happened, Seinfeld said.

 

At one point, however, Richards grew flustered and expressed second thoughts about appearing on the program when his use of the term "Afro-American" caused some audience members to laugh.

 

"I'm hearing your audience laugh and I'm not even sure that this is where I should be addressing the situation," he said.

 

Richards, 57, who played Seinfeld's eccentric neighbor Kramer on the hit 1989-98 sitcom, hadn't spoken publicly about his remarks before "Late Show."

[gogo]

Do you think he was trying to be funny and outrageous (a la Borat or Andy Kaufman) or do you think he just lost it?

It's remotely possible that he thought he was channeling Lenny Bruce or something. But I think he's probably just a racist asshole.

I think augurus has a good point. From the rage-heavy manner in which Richards pointed and yelled "Look! He's a nigger!" I feel he was trying to make the talkers as pissed off as he possibly could. Not excusing it, but it doesn't look like a cut-and-dry case of his racist tendencies coming to a head.

 

I do wonder about this. Since Lenny Bruce, there's a tendency for comics to use language specifically for shock value, often without putting it into any meaningful context. Makes me wonder if his choice of that language was based (in part, maybe) on a misguided belief that a comic can make an outburst like that funny. Would he have given himself permission to go off like that if he didn't think that he could reel it back in and make it part of the show, act like he was making some kind of social commentary? It almost looks like he lost contol of his act, even more than losing control of himself.

 

Moderating his tone at one point' date=' Richards tells the audience, "It shocks you, it shocks you" and refers to "what lays buried."[/quote']

[Boots]

I hope the entertainment world accepts his apology and that he's able to continue working.

 

Continue? You mean start?

[virtualreason]

If only Richards would have LOOKED TO THE COOKIE, all of this could have been avoided.

[embiggen]

exactly!

[quarter23cd]

I do wonder about this. Since Lenny Bruce, there's a tendency for comics to use language specifically for shock value, often without putting it into any meaningful context. Makes me wonder if his choice of that language was based (in part, maybe) on a misguided belief that a comic can make an outburst like that funny. Would he have given himself permission to go off like that if he didn't think that he could reel it back in and make it part of the show, act like he was making some kind of social commentary? It almost looks like he lost contol of his act, even more than losing control of himself.

I was thinking this, too. Watching it, my initial thought was "Okay, wow, this is getting uncomfortable," but I kept sitting there, waiting for a punchline or some small cue that he's going somewhere with this and that its part of the act. And then it never came...and the end result is just creepy. It really does look like he just melted down on stage in the worst possible way. Bizarre.

[Atticus]

Sometimes people forget that it is not a crime for an artist to be a racist, or an idiot.

 

I think it is appropriate for those who have been offended to voice their displeasure and to punish Richards through choosing not to spend money on him. But no matter how offensive his words may be, he has a right to spew them. Surely a lawsuit of some kind is not too far off in the future...

 

that being said, I think it is somewhat short-sighted to compare the use of the "n word" by a white person with the use of a derogative term for white people by an african-american. When a country's very laws (and let's not forget this little gem from our constitution: "Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several states which may be included within this union, according to their respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole number of free persons, including those bound to service for a term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons") once pronounced that a certain class of people were only fractionally human, the terms which were used to enforce and reinforce that sentiment will for a long time, if not forever, remain loaded. People just shouldn't go there.

 

Of course, it certainly doesn't help matters that the term is so abundantly used in the most lucrative genre of music today, regardless of by whom and for what purpose.

[Mr. Heartbreak]

Until NO ONE uses the word, I think it's ridiculous that anybody should be this beat up for using it, no matter how much of a shmuck he was being for using it. The argument that some blacks use - it's okay for me to say it, but not you - doesn't wash at all with me. Even lamer is the "it's okay to say Niggah but not Nigger" argument. Plenty of black people use the word both as a term of endearment AND as a putdown. To try to wield it over white people in a way that says, "You can't say that word because you're white, but I can use it because I'm black" is just pure B.S. We still live in a free country, and people can say what they want, but they have to pay the consequences. In this case, the consequences are way out of proportion. The press are crucifying this guy like he just finished leading a KKK rally.

 

Here's a very measured response from African American political analyst Earl Ofari Hutchinson:

 

http://eurweb.com/story/eur29919.cfm

[mountain bed]

Very good article.One of my favorite Pryor monologues is from one of his concert films ("Live at the Sunset Strip",I believe).No one would argue that he was one of the worst offenders of using the word in his act.Anyway,he talks about the word and then his trip to Africa where he was in a basically all-black society.The quiet dignity of the people there just blew him away.He ended the 'bit' by saying he didn't think it was right for him to use the word anymore.It was a very well-made point.

[bjorn_skurj]

Unless they are white kids acting like black kids, of course.

That's even sadder, in my opinion. Those kids need a spanking.

[oceanman]

and let me say, i say "the n word" all the time and one of my best friends is black.

These exact statements might be what really gives racisism it's fuel.

[Duck-Billed Catechist]

Shit a brick. I can't believe that this has devolved into an argument over whether using the n-word is all that bad. What he said was much worse.

 

Angry, not racist? Please. Angry racist, more like.

[Guest tandylacker]

This word is still divisive - who would have thought that even African-Americans would be split on its use in everyday conversation.

 

I don't like the word. Don't like it when African-Americans use it, certainly don't like it when non-blacks use it. Think it's a horrible word and should not be used in any modern context. It should only stick around for us to remember the racist mistakes humanity has made in the past and hopefully can avoid in the present and future. This is one of the few words in the world where I personally have a hard time not judging someone critically if they use it. I'm all for free-speech, but I can't help but look down on someone when they use this word. If the contemporary black community want to claim it and use it in a different way, they have every right to do so, but I think it's a horrible mistake. It baffles me that anyone would want to hear this word or use it.

 

Maybe Michael Richards and Mel Gibson can collaborate on a reinterpretation of the Passion of the Christ where all the Jews are portrayed by African-Americans.

 

 

So are they African-Americans or blacks?

[oceanman]

Shit a brick. I can't believe that this has dissolved into an argument about whether using the n-word is all that bad.

Sorry for posting about this,it's just that my black friends don't use it,so why should I?Don't get me wrong,I have used deragatory remarks at another's race while upset with someone,but this is what gets me is that our first reaction to an argument with those of another race is to degrade their race,What's wrong with us?

[solace]

the N word wasn't the worst part of his rant, it was the lynching comment that really disturbed me most...