Michael "Kramer" Richards racist tirade (1 Viewer)

[Jeff Jacobson]

TMZ has posted video of Michael Richards going on a racist tirade directed at hecklers in a comedy club.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Michael Richards will be on with Jerry Seinfeld on Letterman tonight to delivery his apology for his meltdown.

Folks, this thread will be closed down if the discussion gets too racially heated.

 

[Nick Martin]

Saw this on DVDTalk...freakin' brilliant.

Parody poster

 

[Chris]

David Letterman has got to be loving this. Puts him completely in the spotlight for having the exclusive on this one. Good for Dave. This could be his moment ala the apology on Leno by Hugh Grant for the hooker years back..

 

[Alex-C]

I would imagine an experienced stand up comedian would know how to deal with hecklers, right ?

Possibly Cosmo wasn't adept at this, or off his medication.

Of course, he could have gone a totally different route and whack the dude with his geetar like this cowboy:

okay, shows over.

 

[Jason Harbaugh]

Just saw Letterman, boy time hasn't been good to Cosmo. He looked horrible.

Glad Seinfeld told the audience to shut up and that it wasn't funny when Michael was talking.

Sure his outburst was over the edge, but I hate hecklers more, as a performer and an audience member.

 

[Mike Graham]

Richards dropped the ball on his "apology." The Entertainment Weekly blog for today sums it up nicely: he should've said he was sorry and that what he did was wrong. Instead, he just rambled for 5 minutes. Seinfeld and Lettermen were way too easy on him. Don't really think I'll be able to watch Seinfeld the same way again.

 

[todd stone]

never watching seinfeld again or buying their products. goodbye Cosmo

 

[Scott-S]

I certainly do not condone Richard's actions but isn't it a bit unfair that the hecklers are being viewed as victims?

They were being rude and opened themselves up to this. I hate hecklers. They think they are above civility. It is rude to think that everyone in the audience want to hear them talk. If they would have just been quiet, it would never have happened.

I know that Richards crossed the line with what he said, but it is very hypocritical to say the Hecklers have freedom of speech to interrupt a person who is working, possible destroying the show for others and yet get mad at someone for saying a naughty word.

 

[David Hobbes]

i understand what you are saying, but he could have called him an a$$hole or a piece of sh!t or something else instead of trotting out the n-word.

 

[BrettB]

Of course there was a Seinfeld ep. dealing with hecklers. I'm sure someone's working on the mashup now. Should be good.

 

[Dave_Brown]

Can't blame the audience for laughing, his "apology" sounded like nothing more than another drawn out bit. He was mad at the heckler(s) and went instantly to what he felt would hurt the most. It wasn't reactionary, it was intentional.

 

[Chris Lockwood]

> never watching seinfeld again or buying their products.

What products? I don't see what this incident has to do with a show that ended years ago.

 

[Mike Graham]

Scott S Wrote:


One of the hecklers simply said, "That's uncalled for," as Richards started his hateful speech. It's what everyone watching Richards was thinking. Heckling during a performance is disruptive; Richards wasn't performing, he was just ranting.

 

[Scott-S]

No, I was talking about the heckling that caused his anger, not after it started.

They were yelling stuff at him that caused this over-reaction.

 

[John_Lee]

These pretzels, . . . are making me racist!!

 

[seanOhara]

No.

As a general proposition, there's nothing wrong with Richards responding to the hecklers. But how he did it was unacceptable. You do not ever, even in jest, tell a black man you wish it was the 1950s so you could lynch him.

And frankly, if the rest of Richards' act showed a similar level of intelligence, he probably deserved the hecklers.

 

[MikeMO]

Heckling happens everywhere. Not that I'm justifying it, but this isn't any different than what happens at sports events.

So what is Richards going to do? Personally insult everyone and comment on their race if he doesn't like the heckler's comments? If you're a comedian, your comebacks are supposed to be smart, witty, and most of all funny. What Richards did was hateful and intentional, and like the heckler said in the clip, uncessary and uncalled for.

 

[chuck_b]

That would be your loss, not Richard's.

Jerry (and maybe Larry David) gets most if not all of the of the syndication residuals, so you would in essence only be depriving Jerry of another Porsche someday. Richards and the other two cast members basically get standard SAG residuals for the reruns, Jerry has profited over a billion.

 

[Rex Bachmann]

BrettB wrote (post #11 ):


If I recall correctly, there was more than one. The one I remember, though, was "The Fire", where Jerry goes to the office of Elaine's "bubbly", whacky co-worker at Pendant(?) Publishing, Toby (whom Kramer is dating), and heckles her ("boo-hoo, boo-hoo!") until she runs into the path of a steamroller, which severs her "pinky toe". Kramer saves the day by rushing the toe by public transit to the hospital. "Giddy-yap!"

Frankly, when I saw the video, I thought Mr. Richards was "high" on something. He was, like, shooting whatever's left of his career right into both feet with both barrels.

I also watched part of Richards's "apologetics" on Late Night with David Letterman, just to hear how he was going to explain himself. It was so rambling I had to turn back to Six Feet Under, which was on cable, and was lots better "theater".