Kramer is a racist nutbag!

[DGMacphee]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UomfLKQr57U


Edit by Andail:
Changed title.

[Nikolas]

Yes...

Saw the same video posted elsewhere.

I don't know the guy (being European without a TV), but still he is a big moron! And a racist of course.

[Mac]

Holy christ. That's quite terrible, regardless of his former career. What's possibly worse is all the people on YouTube trying to rationalise and defend what he said.

[Erenan]

I won't defend what he said, but it does appear to be an outburst of anger, not something stemming from actual racist sentiments. It was stupid of him to say those things, but does his saying them mean that every molecule in his body is fueled by racist feelings?

[Nikolas]

Indeed... after second thoughts, I think that judging with 2 minutes of video is "uncalled for!" We don't know what these people were doing maybe for an hour or more before the guy had this outburst! Still it is really ugly!

[Mac]

Yeah I can see how his comments could have come out of anger rather than any necessarily inherent racism. It's still really horrible though. And a lot of those comments by users on YouTube clearly are racist.

[DGMacphee]

I won't defend what he said, but it does appear to be an outburst of anger, not something stemming from actual racist sentiments. It was stupid of him to say those things, but does his saying them mean that every molecule in his body is fueled by racist feelings?

I agree that it might not stem from racist sentiments, but what I have issue over is the fact he got angry at them interrupting his comedy show and used their race as a means to retaliate. That's stupid, it's like accusing their blackness as the root cause for them interrupting his show. If he got angry at them and just called them idiots, then I could handle that. But there was no reason to bring their race into it.

[Erenan]

Well, I did say it was stupid.

He apologized on the Late Show, and the video is apparently available to view on the Late Show website, but it doesn't appear to want to work on my computer.

[evenwolf]

I wish I could just go on enjoying Seinfeld episodes without thinking about this incident.  I hope that he is on drugs.Ã,  Ã,  That's a weird hope,Ã,  but to deal with a heckler in this way is pure career suicide.Ã,  Ã, 

I've heard people say "You know how there are black people and then there are niggers?"Ã,  Ã, It's beyond me what they are talking about because usually it gets down to some sort of distinction of character.Ã,  Ã,  "One's lazy and a thug."Ã,  Or something like that.Ã,  And they'll say "you know, like there are white people.. and then there's white trash."

The question always comes back around to "what does race have to do with it then?"   Just call both groups of people "Thugs" instead of going racist.Ã,  Its total malarkey.

And if white trash is an acceptable monicker, maybe those people should adapt the phrase "black trash"  because a word with such historical significance.... why use it even in jest?

[Meowster]

A friend of mine in college used to greet me with "hey nigga'!". Neither of us were white, neither of us were racist. I think people should stop getting so fucking distressed over a little word.

What this guy did was stupid, but clearly was just an act of blind rage.

Also the black guy had been noisy and heckling and annoying the whole way through the show. While the ideal way to deal with that is hardly to shout "HE'S A NIGGER!", he is still a prick and deserved to be yelled at a bit. Unfortunately, now he's come out looking like a saint.

The least racist people in the world are the people who don't get offended every time they hear something that could somehow be racist maybe!!! The most annoying people in the world are the ones who get offended if you even use the term "black man". WHY WOULD YOU DESCRIBE HIM AS BEING A BLACK MAN WHY IS THAT IMPORTANT?!? Fuck off you Politically Correct wankstain.

Honestly, Politically Correct people are such arseholes, ruining everything just because they want to feel all saintly and better about themselves and oooh the poor black people! Grow up and stop feeling like you have to defend the poor black people you condescending assholes...


...er...

....anyway yeah still, what an embarrassing video to watch ¬¬



The most offensive thing you can call a comedian onstage is "unfunny". The most offensive thing you can apparently call a black person is "nigger". The guy was yelling for him to "go back to Seinfield" and "you're not funny" and repeatedly interrupting the show to put him down. He deserved what he got.

[evenwolf]

Yuf:  I think most people have come to distinguish between "nigga" and the harder "nigger" by now.   It's totally different context with the possesive "you're my (pal, bud, whitey, dolphin, whatever)

I've done a little stand up and I've seen a lot of comedians come through town.   Trust me, insulting the heckler by offending an entire race of people is NOT the best way to deal.

Doesn't matter what the guy did, suddenly you've got a percentage of the audience digging up American history and visions of plantation owners.  That bad, dirty US past no one likes to think about.

I do agree that some people go too far with P.C. and look for stereotypes wherever they go.    I can't write a black guy into a short film without thinking "will this be construed as innappropriate?"    But this Michael Richards thing is without question the most racist and unmerited offensive thing I've seen since...... FOX and O.J. Simpson collaborated.   

[Darth Mandarb]

Personally I think (not just the black) population of America needs to stop being so fuckin' sensitive.

The word "nigger" is just another word.  It is used freely millions of times a day in the black communities/pop culture but if a white person says it it's a frickin' capital offense.  Get over it for God's sake.

But ... but ... slavery?  White people are racist!!?!?

I've come across FAR more racism from people that aren't white.  But that's okay right?  If you're not white it's okay to be racist because ... because ... slavery right?!!?

It's 2006 ... get the fuck over it.

Find me a civilization/culture in history that hasn't, in some form or another, practiced slavery.  We aren't unique here in America.  Stop whining about it and using it as a crutch and move on.  You can't make a better future by living in the past.  Should it be forgotten about?  Certainly not.  Is it a bad thing that it happened?  Certainly is.

Now please, I implore you AGS readers, do NOT use the defense "but you're not black ... you just can't understand".  That's the most ignorant defense in the history of the world (next to "we were just following orders").

I can understand perfectly.  Maybe I don't relate (though I can trace my family back to times when certain members were "slaves" of a sort), but I DO understand.  I understand that using the race-card is the perfect excuse to whine and complain until you get what you want.

Now of course, due to the color of my skin, what I've said will most likely be interpretted as racist.  This I expect.  But I'm sick and tired of the bullshit double standards that have risen in America because of an institution that was abolished (by white people) 150 years ago.  Get over it.

Now ... all that aside, Michael Richards did step over the line.  There's comedy and then there's inapropriate.  Of course, as is typical, the video only shows the outburst.  It doesn't show the jack-ass in the crowd heckling him for 20 minutes.  Does it mean Richards is a racist for using the dreaded "n" word?  I don't really think so ... maybe it shows low-class that he would resort to using it.  But again ... that word is given sooooo much power he knew full well he could hammer down on that jack-ass by using it.

Nobody is commenting on the fact that the "black trash" piece of shit called him a "cracker ass white boy".  In my opinion "cracker" is just as racist as "nigger" but it's okay for the black fella to use it right?  Because of slavery.

Ignorance.

[Babar]

Darth...?

Wasn't it you who said you understood that the Slave and Master Drive were inappropriate terms because of what your boss told you(or was it really not you. I can't remember or find it.)?

I'm not sure that slavery is the reason that it's inappropriate to use 'the "n" word'. I've heard that the word 'Paki" is a considered racist in the UK, which I find hilarious, but probably because I don't know the background behind the term. I spent a few years in an international school in Africa, and weirdly enough, I don't think I ever encountered racial tensions. Sure, I'd call my friend a black spotted hyena, and he'd call me a bloody poonjabi (which technically I'm not), but there was no hatred there.

As a kid I used to think that racism was something that finished in the 60s, and would always find it funny when someone in a movie would put on their weird contorted face, pretend hatred, and sneer "nigger", as if they're doing something distasteful but necessary in the name of equality and truthfulness of history.

Racism I've encountered is always of a more insidious and unmeasureable nature than this, where you can't really pin it down. Just a general feeling of someone thinking that someone else is somehow 'different '.

I'm worried about when all this will finish. One vote for one man was almost a century ago(?), but you still get vibes of the 'us' type of people and the 'them' type of people. Gender equality is still an issue, country of origin, and even race. As long as people will be brought up in a different way because of what they look like/what their sex is/what their country of origin is, there will be some sort of tension. Now the question is, do we want to lose associations that come with what we look like/what our sex is/what our country of origin is?

EDIT: After being able to see a bit of it, it seems pretty apparent he knew exactly what he was doing. He even made "oooh, oooh" noises after saying it, as if making fun of the shock it might have generated.

[HillBilly]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GAAGklgTpg

Mornin', niggas!

Oh, and I'm really disappointed at Richards.

[evenwolf]

Darth,Ã,  Ã, 

I don't disagree with you that the "n word" is just a word.Ã,  Add to that, you think Richards stepped over the line.Ã,  Ã, But it being 2006 is of no consequence.

The civil war began in the 1860's.Ã,  Ã, Not too many generations of families have cycled their opinions and values as to where white vs. black hatred has actually been abolished.Ã,  Ã, I understand many black people hate white people, and that should make it even right?Ã,  Ã, Well.. consider that the black college basketball coach had to fight to join a country club here in Knoxville, Tennessee.Ã,  Or that a black woman will be raped and mistreated due to racial reasons.Ã,  Ã, 

When we talk about language, a word, and its meaning - 150 years isn't all that long.


Consider the Bread riots of 1734.Ã,  Ã, Bread used to mean "baked and leavened food made of a mixture whose basic constituent is flour or meal."Ã,  Ã,  Today when I say the word everybody thinks I mean something totally different!Ã,  Ã, Come on people, it's just bread!

[thewalrus]

     I do think what Richards said was indeed offensive. That being said, I do also think that people do have a tendancy to over react to these type of things. I have plenty of black friends and I wouldn't even think about calling them "nigga" even if I meant it an endearing way. I know a little something about racism, being jewish. Us jews have had it just as bad over the years then black people. But I have no bitterness or anger over what happened in ancient history. Of course now on the other hand, I don't like to hear people saying negative things about jews....... Just my opinion......

[DGMacphee]

I do agree with Darth in some respects that the word "nigger" is just a word. It's like George Carlin said, they're just words -- it's the context that you use them that's racist. It's white trash piece of shit that's using the word that's racist. Racism exists outside of the word. And you can also use the word without being racist.

The comparison I make is like this: imagine two white guys. One of them uses the word "nigger". His name is Quentin Tarantino and is using it in Pulp Fiction: "Did you see the sign that says 'Dead Nigger Storage'?" We know he's not a racist. If anything, Tarantino wishes he was black.

The other white guy doesn't use the word "nigger". In fact, he's spoken about equality of minorities. However, you can tell in his voice he is a lying sack of shit and very uncomfortable around other races. And he has supported others who have promoted racial segregation. His name is Trent Lott.

However, in Richard's case, he brought up race for no reason whatsoever. It was unnecessary and retarded. And to say that black people couldn't say those sorts of things 150 years ago -- what was the point of that? Did he have it in his mind that Martin Luther King had a dream where his children could one day heckle comedy shows of cracker-ass honkies?

And fork up the arse? I mean, seriously! What the fuck was Kramer thinking?

As for "cracker ass white boy", I think if Richards brought up race, it's fair game for the heckler to call him a "cracker ass". That's why the black guy isn't being called a racist. He's trying to fight Richard's on the same terms established by Richards. Fighting fire with fire, so to speak.

[m0ds]

What a crazy video. I understand it's part of his act, but it's not like he's just saying it. If he had it would've been funny, but he's screaming his head off making sure every mother fucking snake on a plane can hear him yell "nigger". It gets quite disturbing. Anyway, it rapidly becomes unfunny and he should've just shut up and moved on, whether he was being badly heckled or not. Professionals just walk off stage when they're getting heckled but continuing on by involving the heckler and addressing him as a nigger, well - that was a bit silly Career in ruins is a very true statement!

I did find the comment that Richards has never had his own shows or movies to be funny tho

[jetxl]

Let's kill whitey.

[m0ds]

LOL Jet! I love the comment by the guy right at the end