'Watch the Death of Michael Richard's Career' http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8044789871599060390&q=michael richards
One must take into consideration that: 1. He was baited. 2. They responded in kind (with a racial epithet). 3. He was clearly right that these people were assholes. It is understandable that, when extremely mad, one wants to hurt another person in the best way one knows how. Racial slurs are excellent at doing so. Then again, he -really- lost his cool.
Of course he's a racist. He lives up to the stereotype of all old white males being racist. His career isn't dead. Maybe if he did not go out and apologize he would have had a career, but when you are racist and pretend you aren't in public, you lose the respect of the Nazi's, the Klan, and all the various hate groups, and you've already lost the respect of all the non-racists, so really that apology killed his career. He might have got away with it if he would have said it was part of his joke, and admitted to being racist, but he made sure on TV to try and lie and claim he is not a racist. This makes him a lying dishonest racist, the WORST KIND. One thing we can say about Hitler, he was honest enough to write a book about his views. He was a proud racist, and thats the difference between todays racists and yesterdays. Todays racists are becoming closet racists.
Racial slurs are not as painful as some other attacks. Like attacks on someones family, or mother in specific, but they are pretty bad. The point is, this guy is a professional entertainer, he knows how to use words well and speak well, but he made himself into a "cracker" by acting racist, very much like the person who called him a cracker made themselves into a "nigger", to me both those racists are the same type, and the whole thing was blown up out in the media. Kramer promotes the stereotype that all old white males are racist, even those who try to say they arent. Basically his actions went a long way to proving that stereotype true, basically saying "See, I don't usually say racist shit, but everytime I see you I'm thinking NIGGER!". I guess when he lost his temper, he said what he was really thinking all along. I say GOOD, thats freedom of speech as it's BEST. I did not think he should have his career ruined until he came out with the apology. If he starts acting like Mel Gibson, stumbling over himself in fear, begging for mercy and apologizing, it's going to make him look even worse. If he isnt a racist, he should not have racist thoughts in the first place. If he is a racist, he should admit to being one, and then apologize. His biggest mistake was of being a racist and then trying to say hes not. If someone is a racist and would like help, there are people who can help, he could learn to be less racist, and learn to deprogram himself. It's not going to happen easily or overnight because he's an older gentleman, but it's still possible. He has to first admit to himself that he has a problem and that he is racist, if he cannot admit it to himself how exactly is he going to stop thinking like one? This is like a greedy person going and robbing a bank, but then saying they arent a materialist or capitalist. Huh? It's simple, people need to be honest about their instincts, the sooner people can be honest about their instincts, the more human they become, the more we can accept them and get along with them. it's the hiding of instincts that makes it harder to accept people such as these.
As much as I want to say that this is indicative of some kind of hidden festering hate on the actor's part, I don't want to rule out the possibility that he was just pissed, and looking for the first most viceral thing he could think of to shout at the other person. If this is the case, I understand where he's coming from. Oftentimes, when we are angry, we say things that we don't really mean. All of a sudden, we start screaming about how fat and ugly the other person is, or talking about their sexual habits, or any sort of degrading angle we can find. Of course--- in Richard's line of work, nobody in their right mind would fall apart like that. He could have expressed his anger any other way, and gotton away with it--- but not that way.
Just saw this on the news, it was surreal. I've gotten the impression since seinfeld (through interviews and other tv appearances) that richards was depressed, and oddly lacking of a sense of humour. I don't understand how he played kramer so well, he's kind of a dick in real life actually. And I think he's found it hard dealing with disappointing everyone he meets, this outburst was just all the frustration from that exploding out IMO. His career was dead some time ago anyway.
So what. He said the word nigger. Why is it that a white person can say everything else except the word nigger? It is culturally acceptable to say fuck you, or call someone an asshole, but as soon as the word nigger comes out of a white person's mouth he or she is automatically a racist. Saying the word nigger automatically means that you hate everyone with brown skin. Am I the only one that thinks it is stupid to call a white person a racist because he said the word nigger. Why is it ok for a black person to call a white person a cracker or white trash? Michael Richards was obviously upset, and he wanted to share his anger with the person that was heckling him. If I was upset and I really wanted to insult a Hispanic person, I would call them a spick. If I really wanted to insult a Muslim or a Seek I would call them a towel head or a terrorist. If I really wanted to insult an Oriental I would call them a chink, or I would even insult them in their native language. Does that make me a racist, or am I just using the correct words to get the desired physical reaction from a person that made me angry. All of the other racial epithets that are used in the U.S.A are somehow more politically correct than the word nigger. African Americans really need to stop living in the past. As I've said in some of my previous posts, if African Americans are going to be offended by the word nigger, they should also be offended by the word black. The word nigger is just slang for the spanish word for black. And there was a time in the past when the word black was used to call dark skinned Africans degenerates. Most Africans with brown skin are so accustomed to being described as black, that they no longer consider it to be an insulting word. It is similar to the way that some African Americans call each other niggas.
Yup, I pretty much agree with this. It doesn't necessarily deem someone a true racist to say things in the heat of the moment, especially in a high tension environment like standing up on stage being heckled.
I just know all too well what it is like to say something for the reaction and not because you genuinely mean it. This is why I get on well with people who are outside of popular groups because I'm not likely to take an outcasts words at face value.
I watched the video for a minute. The only problem he had was that he wasn't funny. That sure is a career ender.
u don't get it, saying the word 'nigger' to a black person is the same as making a holocaust or natzi joke to a jewish person...
I think it would depend on the Jewish person that you were insulting. It is obvious that a person that actually experienced the holocaust would be very offended if heard a joke about it. But most of the Jewish people that I know that were born 30 or 40 years after WWII wouldn’t really be offended if they heard a joke about the holocaust. They might not like it, but they would not make a big deal about it. I think some African Americans are just too sensitive. I can understand why a person that experienced racial segregation in the 50’s or 60’s would be offended when they heard the word nigger, but I think the younger generations of African Americans have to stop living in the past. No one should let a single word offend them to the point where they’re filled with rage, sadness, and anger.
What did they do to piss him off? He was definitely drunk. I don't think that we can say that he's definitely a racist, I've done the same thing, just to piss people off while I was drunk, and most of my friends are black. Shut up nigger. Seriously though, back when I was in middle school, EVERYONE would say the word nigger and nobody cared. That really surprised me, since my school was 45% black, and because of all the stuff I've seen on TV. Nope. Slavery, blah blah blah... ..and drunk. It's Sikh not seek. I would take that as an insult, had I been a Sikh. Slavery, blah, blah, blah. All jokes aside, that's a bit of a racist comment. Black is hardly a derogatory term. It's more proper than African American. Yes but it's used as a derogatory term, and when that's the case, it is a racist word. No more racist than any of the other words you said. What about people who actually have black skin? It's all about context. Either that or he was inhumanly mad. It's all about context. Or they would be able to laugh about it. Then, they would later explain to you their experiences. Unless you were implying something about the nature of Jews, then it's a matter of political pride, which I'd expect any Jew to be mad about. Not everyone lives in the past. Not at all.
Shut up with your moral sensitivity. Everyone's racist and you're all hypocrites. Stick a cock in your mouths and stop the yammering. If Kramer were black, he wouldn't have a problem calling whites crackers... the race issue, like others, is pretense. We live together best by keeping to our own, because that way, we can avoid the really nasty ("hate") aspects of ethnic strife. History gives us no examples of successful multicultural societies. Go figure. We either learn or join the failures...
People say that a lot, everyone's racist...it's bullshit. I'm not racist. Race is a worse basis than laws upon which to make a decision, close to the bottom. I'm not to keen on sensitivity either though. Yes, and this is a problem. I have to disagree with you, my life has shown quite the opposite. Didn't Hellenistic culture come from multi-cultura(Persian/Greek)l society?
OK, so I made a spelling mistake. I guess that makes me a racist. I honestly didn't know how it was spelled. Show me one picture of a person that actually has black skin. Africans Americans (Or blacks, whatever you want to call them) have skin tones ranging from light brown to dark brown. There are some people that might look black in low lighting, but if you looked closely you would see that their skin is dark brown. As I said in some of my previous posts, The words “black” and “white” is more about good and evil than it is about the amount of melanin in a person’s skin. The only reason why people are calling themselves black or white is because we are diurnal creatures. We have always associated the darkness or black with evil because we were bitten, stung, and killed by nocturnal creatures in the past. We have always associated the light or white with goodness because of the sun. The first gods that we worshiped were sun gods. We always looked at the sun as the giver of life.
