Author Topic: Michael Richards' rant  (Read 2185 times)

Offline Shuggy

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Michael Richards' rant
« on: November 29, 2006, 04:03:38 am »
I saw a news item about his rant (I just tried to find it again for you at TMZ, but a box appeared saying "bad error"  :) ) , complete with most of the words, but I couldn't read all the captioning.

My take is that someone was goading him (I'd like to know what they said to him) and he finally snapped, and decided to gross the heckler out. Maybe it was the timing, or the ambience or some of those other subliminal things that some people are very good at guaging and can ride like a surfer, but he missed it and crashed. His mock-racism etc got taken literally and the punters didn't like it.

In the nature of things, standup skates close to the edge, sometimes it must go off it. I don't go with the critics who are giving him beans as if he really is racist. I think this is different from Mel Gibson, who wasn't doing it for an audience.

Is he basically a standup man, or just doing that because his career as a scripted comedian is on the skids since Kramer?

Offline opinionista

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Re: Michael Richards' rant
« Reply #1 on: November 29, 2006, 05:03:54 am »
I've been following this incident in the news and apparently Michael Richard was not joking when he made those racist remarks. He himself has stated that he was very angry and was way out of line. And IMO, he was.  It doesn't matter if someone was insulting him. Michael Richard is a professional and he should've behaved like so. All comedians know being heckled by the public comes with the territory sometimes, and they have to learn how to deal with it in a professional manner. I am sure Michael Richard is not the first stand up comedian who gets booed doing a routine. He could've asked those guys to leave, for example.

Here's a piece from CNN


Richards 'shattered' by his racial tirade

NEW YORK (AP) -- Comedian Michael Richards said Sunday he did not consider himself a racist, and said he was "shattered" by the comments he made to two young black men during a tirade at a Los Angeles comedy club.

Richards appeared on the Rev. Jesse Jackson's nationally syndicated radio program, "Keep Hope Alive," as a part of a series of apologies for the incident. He said he knew his comments hurt the black community, and hoped to meet with the two men.

He told Jackson that he had not used the language before. (Watch Richards' tirade on stage )

"That's why I'm shattered by it. The way this came through me was like a freight train. After it was over, when I went to look for them, they had gone. And I've tried to meet them, to talk to them, to get some healing," he said.

Richards, who played Jerry Seinfeld's wacky neighbor Kramer on the TV sitcom "Seinfeld," was performing at West Hollywood's Laugh Factory last week when he lashed out at hecklers with a string of racial obscenities and profane language. A cell phone video camera captured the outburst, and the incident later appeared on TMZ.com.

Richards told Jackson the tirade was fueled by anger, not bigotry.

"I was in a place of humiliation," he said.

Richards' publicist, Howard Rubenstein, said Saturday that Richards has begun psychiatric counseling in Los Angeles to learn how to manage his anger and understand why he made the racist remarks.

"He acknowledged that his statements were harmful and opened a terrible racial wound in our nation," Rubenstein said. "He pledges never ever to say anything like that again. He's quite remorseful."

Jackson, who has called Richards' words "hateful," "sick," and "deep-seated," said the comedian's inclusion on the show was a chance for a broader discussion about "cultural isolation" in the entertainment industry.

"We might turn this minus into a plus," Jackson said.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/TV/11/26/richards.ap/index.html

http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/Movies/11/20/richards.epithets.ap/index.html

Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement. -Mark Twain.

Offline Wayne

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Re: Michael Richards' rant
« Reply #2 on: November 29, 2006, 10:20:44 pm »
Been wondering - anybody know if the two guys are gay?
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