Michael Richards (Kramer) dropping the "N" bomb at a comedy club.

[o_tyrus]

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

There is a video link on that page.

What do you guys think?

According to the poll on that page:
Is Richards a racist?
Yes 60%
No 40%
Total Votes: 218,183

[o_rifle]

Saw that on news before school today. I watch Sienfeld every night on Fox.

Edit: I don't think hes racist.

[o_psycnet]

The only people who don't think he's a racist are people who are closeted racists themselves.

Non-racist people do not use slurs and epithets in hate when they are angry. They punch, swear, and call people other names without resorting to derogatory terms about race, sex, or age. If there is a seed in the brain for racial slurs to come out - even under extreme duress -, then you have racist tendencies.

You can argue that everyone makes mistakes and people can often do something wrong when pissed off, but that does not excuse him falling back into a racist mode when angered. Any apologists who say that it could happen to anyone obviously have never been targets of racism themselves, or if they have, feel that two wrongs make a right and that Richards' actions were justified by the offended hecklers calling him a 'cracker' in return.

On that note, this is not a double standard here, as they were just as in the wrong as he was.

Simply, no matter how pissed off or annoyed you are, resorting to racism, sexism or agism in any situation reduces you as a human being and shows what may be lurking underneath.

[o_|404|innoc-tpf-]

I don't think it's easy to say he is or is not based on a single outburst. I actually watched this last night. It wasn't funny...it was actually kind of disturbing. It seems to me that no comic should ever step on stage unless their prepared for hecklers...kind of like posting here...

[o_psycnet]

The fact that he did it means he is a bigot. Plain and simple.

Any non-bigoted person would never ever resort to something like that. It quite simply is (no pun intended) that black and white.

And he's a professional comedian for fuck sakes, he should be able to handle hecklers.

[o_|404|innoc-tpf-]

I would split hairs between being an overt or a closet racist. I think Mel Gibson also has this ghost haunting him as well. So does Richards have some racist views? Probably. It's possible that this was a pre-scripted response to hecklers too that did not go the way he felt it should have. Honestly, I don't think there's anyway to know for certain as I doubt most people will trust that he's being honest about it.

[o_ekim]

Originally Posted by tyrus

What do you guys think?

I think he's a racist prick. What else is there to say, really?

[o_psycnet]

The fact that you point out a split hair difference between closet and overt racism shows that yes, there is a difference, the only difference being that one expresses it while the other does not.

Richards moved from closet to overt the minute he got angry and started spouting off.

Either way, it's still racist, and he is a racist for saying it.

I'm just waiting for people to start talking about how black people call each other niggers so that should make it okay, which is a purely retarded argument because it's fairly obvious there is no malicious intent, while during Richard's tirade the word was clearly meant to cause hurt and shame.

[o_|404|innoc-tpf-]

Yeah, intent makes a difference.

So, ok, you believe you have Richards properly labeled as a racist....now what?

[o_yomamashouse]

Now we get to spend the next week reading articles about him being a racist and suffering the humiliation he deserves.

[o_psycnet]

Pretty much :/

And the verification of him being a racist was the point of this thread, because Tyrus asked us whether or not we thought he was a racist.

Expect the guy who played Jackie Childes to come out saying how much he loves Michael as his only black apologist

[o_kbomb]

Originally Posted by PsYcNeT

Pretty much :/

And the verification of him being a racist was the point of this thread, because Tyrus asked us whether or not we thought he was a racist.

Expect the guy who played Jackie Childes to come out saying how much he loves Michael as his only black apologist

Well I don't really have an opinion on this topic - but just for arguments sake would you still consider him a racist if he simply did it to make them angry?

For example if I knew that you really loved 90-year old people, and then in order to make you mad I insult 90-year old people. I may not actually hate 90-year old people, or have anything against them at all - it was just done to make you mad.

In reality, its quite possible Richards has many black friends and respects them all - and simply did this to enrage the hecklers. This explanation would make at least some sense anyways.

P.S. - Just to be clear I defently don't defend anything Richards said, and obviously am opposed to any form of racism.

[o_|404|innoc-tpf-]

Originally Posted by Kbomb

Well I don't really have an opinion on this topic - but just for arguments sake would you still consider him a racist if he simply did it to make them angry?

For example if I knew that you really loved 90-year old people, and then in order to make you mad I insult 90-year old people. I may not actually hate 90-year old people, or have anything against them at all - it was just done to make you mad.

In reality, its quite possible Richards has many black friends and respects them all - and simply did this to enrage the hecklers. This explanation would make at least some sense anyways.

P.S. - Just to be clear I defently don't defend anything Richards said, and obviously am opposed to any form of racism.

Honestly, that's my thoughts on it as well.

[o_uber]

If he was trying to be funny, he wasn't. Either way, he's quite dumb for saying what he did, regardless of his intent.

[o_kbomb]

Originally Posted by uBeR

If he was trying to be funny, he wasn't. Either way, he's quite dumb for saying what he did, regardless of his intent.

I don't think he was trying to be funny, it sounded like he got pretty mad over what the hecklers said.

And yeah - I definitly agree is was a dumb thing to do regardless of the intent.

[Defrag]

The main difference between being a 'racist' in comedy and not being a 'racist' is whether the joke is funny. It seems to me that he launched into that rant without knowing where he was going with it, then ended up flailing without a punchline. If he'd said something really funny that involved the n-word I'm sure this would've been glossed over and forgotten, but he didn't say anything amusing and totally lost the audience.

Let's face it, if Dave Chappelle had called a white heckler a cracka during the course of a really funny joke, nobody would care. However, this guy didn't have a punchline -- the closest he got was the fork up the ass line and that wasn't even remotely amusing so ...

Is he a racist or someone who misjudged a joke that never came to be? Using the word "nigger" doesn't automatically make you a racist.

It's like George Carlin said:

They're only words. It's the context that counts. It's the user. It's the intention behind the words that makes them good or bad. The words are completely neutral. The words are innocent. I get tired of people talking about bad words and bad language. Bullshit! It's the context that makes them good or bad. The context. That makes them good or bad. For instance, you take the word "Nigger." There is absolutely nothing wrong with the word "Nigger" in and of itself. It's the racist asshole who's using it that you ought to be concerned about.

Let's cut the bullshit. If you're a funny fucker, it's acceptable to talk about dead babies, rape, raping dead babies, corpse fucking, natural disasters, national scandals, kidnappings ..... ........ and race. If you're not a funny fucker, then you just come over as a cold-hearted, prejudiced asshole when attempting to address any of those topics. I remember Billy Conolly making a 9/11 joke and also joking about Ken Bigley (a hostage who was beheaded in Iraq shortly thereafter). In both situations the jokes weren't particularly funny. Now, think of all the taboo subjects that have been successfully been the subject of a joke.

It's hard to say whether he is a racist or someone who was frustratingly struggling for a riposte and picked the most obvious thing to use for an attempt at a joke (but then failed miserably). The best you can say of him is that he really ought to know better -- he knows the 'rules' when you stray into that kind of territory; if you don't actually have a punchline or some other device to show the audience you're joking then you're asking for trouble. The worst you can say of him is that he is a racist. Where he actually stands, I think only he will know.

[o_uber]

That's not necessarily true. The word has a background. This isn't a neutral word like the word "it." The word "nigger" has connotations. It's an ethnophaulism. "Such terms are the language of prejudice – verbal pictures of negative stereotypes."

Originally Posted by Dr. David Pilgrim, Professor of Sociology, and Dr. Phillip Middleton, Professor of Languages and Literature, Ferris State University. 2001.

. . . for example, portrays black men as lazy, ignorant, and obsessively self-indulgent; these are also traits historically represented by the word nigger. . . . The word nigger carries with it much of the hatred and repulsion directed toward Africans and African Americans. Historically, nigger defined, limited, and mocked African Americans. It was a term of exclusion, a verbal justification for discrimination. Whether used as a noun, verb, or adjective, it reinforced the stereotype of the lazy, stupid, dirty, worthless parasite. No other American ethnophaulism carried so much purposeful venom.

Nigger is the ultimate expression of white racism and white superiority, irrespective of the way it is pronounced. It is a linguistic corruption, a corruption of civility. Nigger is the most infamous word in American culture. Some words carry more weight than others. At the risk of hyperbole, is genocide just another word? Pedophilia? Obviously, no: neither is nigger.

Like most blacks know experientially, that nigger is an expression of anti-black antipathy. Is it surprising that nigger is the most commonly used racist slur during hate crimes?

Nigger . . . belittles blacks, and rationalizes their mistreatment. The use of the word or its variants by blacks has not significantly lessened its sting. This is not surprising. The historical relationship between European Americans and African Americans was shaped by a racial hierarchy which spanned three centuries. Anti-black attitudes, values, and behavior were normative. Historically, Nigger more than any word captured the personal antipathy and institutionalized racism directed toward blacks. It still does.

Like I said earlier, despite his intent, it was a foolish act at trying to poke fun at a heckler, or trying to enrage him, or trying to make the audience laugh, or whatever he was trying to do. If thinks himself a professional, then he didn't act like one. There is no room for racism and racist words (despite your intended meaning for them) in professionalism.

[o_ekim]

He didn't "just" call his hecklers niggers.

"Fifty years ago we'd have you upside down with a f***ing fork up your ass. You can talk, you can talk, you're brave now motherf**ker. Throw his ass out. He's a nigger!"

I'd say the first two sentences there are more offensive than the last two.. Speaking as if he'd prefer race relations to be how they were fifty years ago.

[o_skanky butterpuss]

i think hes just had far too much drugs.


but, by psycnets logic, that makes me a racist. i better go get my hood!

[o_tyrus]

My closest friends happen to be from a variety of races. My friend Larry is black. When I'm around him, I call him the "N" word all the time. He calls me a cracker all the time. When our spanish friend George is around, we both attack him with "spic" and "Mexican" (as if all spanish people were mexicans). However, I don't think any of us are racist. We all take part in this little racist game and are simply poking fun at each other at each other's expense.