What happened to Micheal Richards? Saying N-word and stuff

[Ziroc]

You remember him from SEINFELD as Kramer. Well, he went nuts on stage, calling African American people the n-word, and saying 50 years ago, they be hanging! WTF?

Is it because he is a wash-up now? And can't get work?

Sad... I liked him. My favorite Seinfeld episode was when Kramer bought the Merv Griffin show set, and set it up in his apartment, and pretended to interview his neighbors.. [img]smile.gif[/img] But now... sad.

Here is the video--its graphic, so if you have kids in the room, don't play it.
(cussing). The video is poor quality, but you can clearly hear what is said.

http://www.tmz.com/2006/11/20/kramer...aught-on-tape/

[VulcanRider]

Why is it that blacks can call each other the "n-word" but whites can't use it? I've heard similar language from comedians on Def Comedy Jam and there was no uproar.

Some comedians feel they can only be funny by being insulting/degrading/shocking. IMO, that just shows a lack of imagination. Too bad, George & Kramer were my favorites on Seinfeld. Sounds like Kramer's success came from the writers more than the actor.

True freedom of speech requires letting others speak no matter how offensive you personally find what they're saying. You know how I would show displeasure at what he said? If I saw that he was appearing near me, I'd write to the venue and tell them why I'm not going to buy a ticket. If I had tickets, I'd ask about getting them refunded. When the money stops coming in he'll censor himself or look for a different job.

[SpiritWarrior]

Well the word is "■■■■■■" firstly. I think it's safe to say we at IW are mature enough to be able to say the word since we're having a discussion about it. Everyone knows exactly what we mean when we say "N-word" so why hide from it? There's no malice behind it in this thread.

[Ladyzekke]

WOW. Unbelievable. He wasn't joking either, ick. Wep, looks like what little career he had left is now much like that advertisement before the video, down the toilet! [img]graemlins/hehe.gif[/img]

[VulcanRider]

Kramer Apologizes for racist tirade

Ya think maybe his manager explained how hard it would be to make money in show business labelled as a racist?

[Larry_OHF]

He responded in anger at a heckler who was trying to get him fired up, which sometimes happens to comedians. They have somebody in the crowd trying to be funny too and throw the comedian off by making him lose track of his practiced jokes and take it to an unpracticed level. However, ignoring the hecklers comes with the territory, or sometimes not ignorning them and having a go at the heckler is also allowed in comedy, but he overstepped a barrier where funny jabs became too personal and too hate-filled.

Now, there is another part of this story that was not covered in that initial report above, but I heard on the radio last night. A statement was made by some kind of guy that represented the club about how the racial slurs of "Kramer" did not represent the club's interest and so on. Of course, they are trying to cover their butts so that they do not get sued, but the next thing the guy said was that "it will take years for these people to heal from this". That is utter bull-crap. Years to heal from a foolish comedian-gone bad? Now I hear that several of the people are planning on actually making a case to sue for their emotional wounds and the club will get shut down, the insurance agency that covers the club will go broke and for what? Emotional scarring? That's almost as absurd as letting this guy go back on stage anytime soon.

[ 11-21-2006, 09:49 AM: Message edited by: Larry_OHF ]

[Iron Greasel]

I have never understood some bits of your crazy american culture. Why is "■■■■■■" offensive?

[Bungleau]

In every culture, there are words and phrases that are offensive. A large part of it is upbringing and history, and for that reason, it's not as obvious to people outside of that culture as to why it's offensive.

Wikipedia has enough information about the word that it may take a while to read through, but it will give you some ideas.

At the end, it's a term that refers to and implies heavy racism, and most people try to avoid it over here.

[Larry_OHF]

Originally posted by Iron Greasel: I have never understood some bits of your crazy american culture. Why is "■■■■■■" offensive?

Do the Finnish people not have a word that is so derogatory when referring to another type of people that you just don't use it in everyday language unless you're employing it in hatred or anger towards the target people?

Also...I am surprised you'd think this was "crazy american culture" to have such words as cannot be used unless you're looking to be derogatory. For example, in Spanish it is of most offense for an Hispanic with clear European ancestry and the whiter skin to call a darker-skinned Hispanic an "indio". That derogatory word implies that the dark-skinned Hispanic is "lesser" than the the whiter one because he has "bad genes". When the conquistadores came from Spain and started settling in the New World, they had a list of more than a dozen types of "subraces" to denote one's "uncleanness" at mixing races from Spanish-decent to Indiginous and African unions. It was to keep the "unclean" people in their places in society. Today's Mexico does not recognize differences in genealogy as a social standing, but if you want to put yourself above another to prove you're better than he, then call him an "indio" and that's good enough to get into a fight over.

If you tell a person, Cayete la trampa (hocico). This means, "Shut your trap". Dogs have trap-like mouths, not humans. Therefore, to tell somebody to shut their trap will get you in a fight because you're in essence telling them that they are "less than human".

This attitude of creating derogatory names is not just American. I know of other countries that use special names to refer to "enemies" or people that they do not like and want to insult, but I cannot think of any at the moment without searching the Net for them, and besides, I could go on to mention cultures and their "crazy" offensive ideas...but the point is, they're not "crazy" at all...that's just culture, plain and simple.

[ 11-21-2006, 02:27 PM: Message edited by: Larry_OHF ]

[Havock]

Sometimes you just have to drop the "N-bomb". It doesn't make you a racist. If you discriminate against people and constantly try to put them down, that would make you a racist. In this particular context I think it was more for the insult value than for any expression of his personal beliefs. The guy was heckleing him, the guy was black, the 'N-bomb" was dropped repeatedly. If the guy was gay and the "Fag-bomb" was dropped would that then make him a homophobe? I think the whole thing has been taken wayyyyyyy off the reservation. People are trying to make a scandal out of nothing.