LOS ANGELES (AP) – Michael Richards stunned a comedy club audience, shouting racial epithets at people who heckled him during a stand-up routine.
The 57-year-old actor-comedian, best known for playing Jerry Seinfeld’s eccentric neighbor Kramer on the hit TV show “Seinfeld,” was performing at the Laugh Factory in West Hollywood Friday night when he went into the verbal rampage.
A video posted on TMZ.com shows that the tirade apparently began after two black audience members started shouting at him that he wasn’t funny.
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.
I am of the opinion that if two people are just trying to hurt each other’s feelings, one for their own amusement, and the other lashing out in anger, I don’t give a shit what they say to each other. It is crass and low to play on another person’s racial sensitivities, but if you don’t like to be called names you shouldn’t call names. Namecalling is ever the game of one-upsmanship, and between two unacquainted gentleman, it frequently and reliably gets out of hand. Fisticuffs are a common example of this.
This episdoe demonstrates either a lack of maturity about Mr. Richards, a secret hatred or disdain for a section of society or, most likely, that when he gets angry, he gives himself permission to hurt other people’s feelings to a degree that the rest of us feel that we would and should withold. He obviously played upon the word and the way he expected it would make his heckler feel when it was said in that context, and that was a low blow. I feel bad for the heckler, he thought he would get away with not being called such bad names, and I feel bad for Michael Richards, because he was publically tested and found to be wanting of the temperate temperament that society values. And I feel bad for society, because society jacks off and eats it.
Nevertheless, since we cannot condemn Michael Richards to a painful life upside down in a cage, as my religious law proscribes, we must settle for the second most serious punishment under Zardozian law. (We don’t believe in the Cattlefondle Romp, that’s Reform Freeform Conneristants.)
He is going to have to apologize to Jesse Jackson.
I watched this earlier tonight, and at first I was taken aback, but shortly thereafter it occurred to me that this could easily have been staged. It seems a little rehearsed to me, and honestly, when was the last time you even saw Michael Richards doing anything? The guy that played J. Peterman on Seinfeld at least gets work doing bumper voiceovers for radio stations.
On the radio this morning, they were mentioning that Richards has said for years that one of his favorite comics and main influences is Andy Kaufman, who was famous for staging this kind of thing as a sort of performance art. I don’t think that’s what happened here, but it’s an interesting point.
It seemed like he was trying to build up to turn it into a punchline but it just kept coming out flat and wrong wrong wrong. But I’ve seen comics go on an entirely un-pc rant and turn the crowd around with a well placed quip; Richards certainly seemed to lack the presence of mind to do the same. Of course, he has no excuse, but it’s hardly a precedent in comedy.
Kramer apologizes?, I guess… he does work the word sorry in there while he distances himself from his own words. Yeah, the rage of katrina made him do it.
Normally, I’d agree, but from the reactions of the people I’ve talked to, this could end his career (what remains of it anyway).
This is what I thought, too. Richards may be racist, but this smacked more of trying to shut down a heckler with shock tactics and having it spiral out of control.
Doesn’t excuse it, though. If you’re going to play that kind of dangerous game, you’d better be able to pull off the laugh at the end.
Tom Cruise and Mel Gibson’s various antics have proved that this isn’t necessarily the case. Particularly Tom Cruise. Some of the stuff he’s said and the weird shit with Katie Holmes have considerably hurt his reputation as a bankable film star/
