Holy Crap! First Mel, now Kramer!?

[neo-dragon]

If you haven't heard already, the footage speaks for itself. Michael Richards (aka Kramer, of Seinfeld fame) recently lost his temper with a heckler during his stand-up routine and started shouting some rather offensive remarks.

WARNING: This footage contains offensive language.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3RjiVcIlhY

*edit*
Here's the apology he gave on Letterman:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dufHYw-W6j4

[zeroguy]

"First Mel?" What happened before?

[neo-dragon]

Surely you know about Mel Gibson's drunken anti-semitic rant some months ago. It was all over... everything.

[lyons24000]

I feel bad for Kramer and I hold no animosity towards him. He made me laugh as Kramer and I could never look down on him!

[zeroguy]

Err, I thought Mel Gibson was just anti-semitic in general. I'm not aware of any particular incident.

Anyway, this is hard to actually realize it's Michael Richards when watching that clip (the first clip, that is). It's just difficult to imagine him saying such things.

[Paul]

WARNING: This footage contains offensive language.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3RjiVcIlhY

To view this video, please verify you are 18 or older by logging in or signing up.

Errrr, i dont WANT to sign in...

[neo-dragon]

It didn't require a sign in last night... It's not even that bad, it just has the "N-word" a lot. The "F-word" is cencored. As if no one under the age of 18 has heard these words before. Hell, I originally saw the footage on Entertainment Tonight, and the last time I checked, you didn't have to be 18 to watch that!

It's easy to make a youtube account and say that you are any age you want anyway.

[mr_thebrain]

on the one hand he was stupid for doing that.

on the other hand. i don't know how serious he was being. i haven't seen the apology though. we don't know what the guys in the audience we saying before the kramer freak out.

i'm not a rascist. far from it. but i don't find those words offensive. i have trouble finding any word offensive. words are only offensive if you allow them to be. by listening to the variations of the word that he's using it almost seems as though he's mocking them for their "big and bad" or "gangsta" attitude than anything else. although the initial comment you hear is about them hanging upside down with a fork up their asses. i don't know. it's hard for me to know how to judge this without knowing what kramer's mentality really is.

on a completely different hand why would anyone go to see him do standup?

[neo-dragon]

You should really watch the apology. He wasn't joking, he was pissed off and dead serious. He stormed off the stage and ended the show right there. I'm not easily offended either, but it's somewhat surprising that when Richards lost his cool the first thing he could think to shout were terribly racist remarks. I mean, the man is a professional comedian. I'm sure he's dealt with his fair share of hecklers and unruly individuals. It kinda comes with the territory. I can't imagine anything that the guy could have said or done that could have made that reaction acceptable.

[zeroguy]

I've never seen his standup act. Just wondering... does he ever do race stuff as part of his jokes?

[Bevis]

I don't know zeroguy but I am still waiting for your aristocrats joke in the Spider Dance thread.

Anyway, I heard on the radio today that Mel's sticking up for Richard's. The DJ compared this to the KKK supporting a political candidate. Personally, I think it looks worse on Mel. His god handed the world some other celebrity bigot to growl over and Gibson (instead of exodusing his ass behind Apocalyptico) jumps right back into the pit. Where'd I put that dunce cap?

[puppets]

I agree with Brain. The words are only offensive if you see them that way.

Just out of fairness though, I have to wonder, when white comedians use the N-word, they do get in trouble, so should black peole say cracker? I guess it doesn't have the same derrogatory manner as the N-word though.

I agree he is a comedian and he should of handled this the right way and held his temper, but people sometimes lose their cool. I think the fact he is getting sued over this is not fair, mainly because, if you are gonna insult someone, you shouldn't be surprised if they decide to insult you back, no matter what the extreme, don't start stuff if you can't take the heat.

From what I heard on the radio, the hecklers said worse things than Kramer. He called them some "forbidden" words (only if your'e white actually) but they called him a wash up and said his stand up comedy and bad acting was the reason he didn't fo anywhere after Scienfeld. That'd piss me off and I can't gaurentee I'd hold my tongue very well.

[wizzard]

The words are only offensive if you see them that way.

First of all, I don't think it's really that simple (but this has already been discussed in another thread, so let's not go into it here). Secondly, whatever the reaction "should" have been, Richards was obviously intending to be offensive. I can see him losing his temper, but this was over the top. He should have more self control than that.

[hive_king]

He also told them that if this had been 50 years ago, they would have been lynched, or something to that effect. That's pretty bad, too.

[Jebus]

AB's link has been taken down so here's another one to the apology: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8uOB0Rx ... ed&search=