Warning: The following post contains language many people will find offensive. I find such language deeply offensive myself. I am including certain quotes in this post without censoring them because I don't believe such speech should be sugar-coated. I believe the following incident should be exposed in all of its ugliness -- and it should make you angry.
As a humor writer, I try to keep an open mind about the words of other humorists. When comedians tell jokes I find offensive, I tend to grant more poetic license than I might in some circumstances. Humor is an art form in which we risk offending, and sometimes, we humorists -- writers, stand-up comics, whatever -- go too far, because we are human. But Michael Richards, a.k.a. "Kramer" from the TV show, "Seinfeld," deserves no such leniency for his racially charged tirade at a West Hollywood comedy club Friday night. There are limits to how "too far" you can go.
Richards was being heckled. And being heckled sucks, I'm sure. But
it's something all stand-up comics have to contend with. Richards
should know that, having worked side by side for 10+ years with one of
the highest-paid stand-up comics in the business.
There are graceful ways to deal with hecklers. There are
not-so-graceful ways to deal with hecklers. And there are downright idiotic
ways to deal with hecklers. "Downright idiotic" doesn't begin to
describe Richards's behavior Friday night.
The two people heckling Richards happened to be African-American.
Richards responded with a racially charged rampage. Here's a partial
transcript of a cell phone video of the incident, which was later
obtained by CNN:
Richards: Throw his ass out! He's a nigger! He's a nigger! He's a nigger! Look! A nigger!
...
Audience member: That was uncalled for!
Richards: What was uncalled for? It was uncalled for for you
to interrupt my ass, you cheap motherfucker! You guys have been talking
and talking and talking!
Audience Member: That was uncalled for, you fucking cracker-ass motherfucker!
...
Richards: Shut up! Fifty years ago, we would have had you upside down with a fucking fork up your ass!
Audience Member: That was un-fucking-called for! That ain't necessary!
Richards: Well, you interrupted me! That's what happens when you interrupt a white man, don't you know?
[If the words don't shock you enough, check out the article on CNN.com
and click the link to the video of Richards's performance. He shrieks
his words with the same fury one might expect from a man in a sheet at
a cross burning.]
Richards's behavior is nauseating enough without what
has happened since then. His handling of the incident and its aftermath
has been cowardly.
Richards has apologized, but his sincerity is questionable. In an
appearance on "Late Night with David Letterman" Monday, on which
Jerry Seinfeld was already scheduled as a guest, Richards spoke by
satellite, saying, "For me to be at a comedy
club and flip out and say this crap, I'm deeply, deeply sorry.... I'm really busted up."
Fine, but he also says in his so-called apology, "I'm not a racist. That's what's so insane about this."
No.
That's not what's so insane about this.
What's so insane about this is that after his outburst on Friday,
Richards returned to the same club Saturday night, refused to talk with
the press or acknowledge the previous night's incident, and did his
regular comedy act as if nothing was wrong. A sincere apology would
have come immediately. Not three days later, after a video
of his tirade made its way onto network news. Richards wasn't "busted
up" Saturday night when he was on stage joking around as if nothing had
gone wrong the night before. He was "busted up" today, after he realized
the entire nation was going to see a video of his behavior.
I haven't yet seen the "Late Night" episode with Richards's apology because it airs later tonight in the Pacific time zone. But a review on TMZ.com (where the above apology quotes are taken from) describes him as "looking sallow, drawn, and speaking in halting fragments."
Let us not forget that Richards is a professional actor.
He wasn't looking so sallow, drawn, and halting in his Saturday
performance. If Richards were sincerely sorry, he would not insult all
of our intelligence by lacing his apology with a statement like, "I'm
not a racist."
A few people will rush to Richards's defense, telling people like me
to give him a break. He's human, he was stressed, he was being heckled
by a couple of assholes, blah, blah, blah. He's also a very rich actor
who has chosen to be in the public spotlight. He's been in that
spotlight for many years and he's intelligent enough to know that
language such as that he used on Friday causes deep wounds in America
-- not just to African-Americans, but to our nation as a whole.
Richards has permanently defiled his image and his career. Sadly,
it's going to rub off on the rest of the Seinfeld cast and crew as
well. I doubt I will ever be able to watch the show again without
thinking of this incident. Actually... I doubt I will ever be able to
watch the show again -- period. The sight of "Kramer" churns my
stomach now.
I'm hurt and I'm disillusioned. A man I respected, a man who I thought was a comedic genius, has shown his true colors. He's a racist punk who handles hecklers with the prowess one would expect from a three-year-old. His statement in the middle of his apology that he is "not a racist," after spewing such a tirade of racist venom, trivializes and negates his entire apology.
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