Kramer
nig‧ger [nig-er]
2. Slang: Extremely Disparaging and Offensive.
a person of any race or origin regarded as
contemptible, inferior, ignorant, etc.
(I mean, seriously… look at him!)
So if you’ve been watching the news the last week or so (and my last post says that maybe some of you aren’t), you might have heard that Michael Richards, TV’s Kramer, apparently lost his mind at a comedy club on Nov. 17th and decided it was a good idea to call a black man seated in the audience a nigger. Repeatedly. As one might have guessed, this didn’t exactly go over well with the American public, particularly those of the negro persuasion. Go figure.
Anyway, Richards later appeared on Letterman as a special guest of Jerry Seinfeld and apologized. I’m sure it was quite heartfelt and sincere, and I’m sure it had nothing to do with the fact Seinfeld DVD boxed sets that normally go for $50 a season were down to $16.99 at Best Buy when i was there this weekend.
So now, Jesse Jackson has called for a boycott of Seinfeld DVDs. Silly, but sure, I kinda get that. Makes sense. I’m not sure what Jesse hopes to gain, but ok fine. The owners of the Laugh Factory (the club where Richards went crazy) have called for Richards to donate half a million dollars to charity for each time he used the word. Kind of ridiculous for a guy who was a supporting actor on a TV show that ended eight years ago. But OK. But now comedian, Paul Mooney has joined with Jesse in asking for all comedians and regular people world wide to ban using “the N word” forever. Excuse me for a moment…
NIGGA PLEASE!
Ok, I’m certainly not going to excuse what Richards did. His little tirade was clearly full of malice and venom. But, you know what my favorite part of the word nigger is? Racists are so fond of using it that it makes them very easy to pick out. If anything, the casual usage of the word by the kids these days depowers it. Does it still have bite. Yes. Is it ok for people to just throw it around and not expect a certain response? Of course not. But Mooney has used the word enough in his life that he knows better than anyone that the word, like any other word, is just that. A word. Its the meaning behind it that matters. The intention of the speaker. Even if there was a law passed that made saying nigger punishable by death I could just as easily begin referring to blacks meanly as spics or kikes or chinks or melonheads. And a rap song can say nigga, bitch, ho or motherfucker and mean it endearingly. At the end of the day there’s a lot of ugly in the world and there are a lot of words that identify that ugly. But if you look at ugly through rose colored lenses it’s still ugly.
It’s just pink.
I wonder what the appropriate response to this sort of thing is. It seems like what people want is for the racist to offer the most sincere-sounding, heartfelt apology possible, and then to hate him forever anyway. Which seems maybe counter-productive. I think that racists, in all likelihood, vastly outnumber people who approve of racism. That is, people pretend not to be racists because they see what happens in a case like this, and they’ve even got themselves fooled…but they’re still racists. So should we confront what we are and try to improve, or is the point just to play nice and avoid unfortunate outbursts?
Also, Seinfeld for $16.99? Dude!
I saw a joke not long after this happened about it being a new trend for celebs whose careers were floundering getting a lot of free press for making an obnoxious remark in public followed by an insincere apology.
yeah… I’m not convinced that’s not true. Its going to be the next celebrity sex tape. But, unlike the sex tape, in order to work the racist angle, I think you need to be relevant in some way to start with. Mel Gibson can work the jew hater gimmick because he was actually in the public light already. Kramer, not so much…
I’m not sure we DO anything. Hating people is a God given right. The problem with crusades against racism is that there is no acceptable end game you can create in most circumstances. You can crusade for civil rights and make it illegal to discriminate. That’s fine. You can educate on diversity in the hopes that people learn to appreciate it. But you simply can’t force people to like things they don’t want to. And in my opinion forcing them to pretend they do is all the more harmful. For instance, I am against forcing country clubs to admit black people if they don’t want to. I find it quite convenient that racists have a place to hang out together that they like to go to because I’m not there. It keeps them away from all the places that I do go to. Why would I want to go play golf somewhere where everyone is quietly hating me?
Yep, to be fair, it might have really been a special for thanksgiving weekend and not just a discount of bad press. But it helped my little article there to point it out.
Oh come on, those country clubs would totally let you in.
As a janitor.
Maybe as a busboy.
Just realize that the waiter positions are reserved so that their kids can network.
see, but I don’t particularly want to work in such a place either. In fact, I’d like that even less than just hanging out there.
While not defending him and I’ve avoided watching the tirade, I am disturbed by the way comedy clubs are now banning certain words or subjects. Seriously, I’d be upset if I went to see a comedian and they didn’t say something offensive.
well, yeah, that’s why Paul Mooney should know better. One of the base tenets of comedy is insult. Who is being insulted and why shouldn’t matter. What should matter is whether the comic is talented enough to make it funny. Granted RIchards wasn’t funny, but oh well.
If ugly through rose-tinted lenses is still ugly, then your rose-tinted lenses are broken… biatch!
those aren’t rose colored lenses, they’re beer goggles, fool!
You know, I have to say, I watched the video of Richards flipping out, and I was a bit baffled as to how he was acting. But for some reason I didn’t take him seriously anyway. I guess no one is allowed to publicly be a racist these days, whether they are privately or not, and since a lot of people probably are and just don’t say it, I viewed him as violating a societal taboo more than having an unusual contemptible viewpoint (though I do in fact find that viewpoint contemptible, primarily because I believe people should always be judged as individuals rather than members of groups, if possible), and I don’t place much value on conformity to societal norms per se.
There’s an episode of Seinfeld syndicated on a TV station that I watch just about every weeknight, and I haven’t stopped watching or found Kramer to be any less funny of a character since this started. I guess I might be slightly more likely to pirate Seinfeld rather than buy the DVDs now, if I wanted to collect them, but honestly, they probably weren’t that high on my list anyway. Point being, I don’t seem to be motivated to punish Richards in any meaningful way for his behavior or views. I guess my moral compass is a bit weak (and of course, I’m rarely personally disadvantaged by racism, so it tends not to be one of my key issues).
I think I’m really tired of (and to a large extent, bored by) this whole “celebrity/politician scandal” pattern in general.
Most people aren’t cut out for stand-up comedy. Michael Richards is obviously not. Someone who is cut out for stand-up would’ve spun that into part of their act.
well, to be completely fair, if you watch the video, he actually was trying to spin it into his act. He’s just lame, so it wasn’t funny.
well, I don’t know that no one is allowed to be racist. Plenty of people are. The problem is that when you exhibit racist behavior you have to expect a certain relationship. You don’t get to make hateful snide comments and then just say “oops, I’m sorry.”
I mean, I say certain things here, and I expect the casual reader to respond to me accordingly. As a wrestling character I am an evil cheating bastard, and I expect people to respond to me accordingly. You can’t really do what he did and expect no reaction.
Also, he just wasn’t funny.
Sure, what I meant is that you can’t be racist, express it in a way that is taken seriously, and expect to remain part of mainstream society, particularly the mass-media / pop-culture part thereof.
And you’re right, that standup clip wasn’t funny, and I probably wouldn’t go see him as a standup comedian since it seems likely he just isn’t that good at that. But I still think he was damn good as Kramer.
exactly. The personal beliefs of Michael Richards, whatever they are, and his actions or mistakes he’s made in the past 2 weeks have nothing to do with the character that was Kramer (as much a creation of the writers as Richards) from a decade ago. Hence my feeling that boycotting the show is actually kinda silly. I really just don’t believe that he benefits in any major way financially from people buying the DVDs. I’m bettering he gets a much bigger check from the sale of soap or mcdonalds or cars or whatever is advertised during the syndicated run of the show.
This really changed my opinion of him, although, admittedly, I didn’t know much about him other than his character as Kramer–who I adored immensely and thought was a good guy. He really ruined that for a lot of people.
Even though I hadn’t planned on buying the DVDs, I definitely won’t now and I hope more people do follow suit. Sure, maybe he just slipped and maybe he isn’t through and through a racist, but I think time needs to pass and he needs to learn a lesson. I know that my boycott is “punishment” toward Seinfeld and not just him; I wouldn’t have any other way of letting him know I don’t think his slip up was ok since I don’t think he plans to tour here, to the best of my knowledge.
ok, that’s what I was looking for. So what lesson do you hope to teach him? I’m not saying you shouldn’t boycott the show. I’m saying, much like and I were discussing above, what is it you would hope is gained?
I feel like I’m stating the obvious: I’d hope it would show that our society doesn’t believe racism is cool.
ok… see, I don’t think it sends that message. i think it sends the message that “saying racist things is financially stupid.” In particular, I don’t know Richards actual deal, but if he’s doing stand-up at the Laugh Factory I have to assume that his residuals from Seinfeld DVD sales and syndication aren’t all that substantial.
In any case, I don’t think that the personal attitudes of the artist necessarilly pertain to the work that is generated. Did I ever tell you the story of when and I met John Byrne? The guy is an asshole, but he’s a great writer. And he knows he’s an asshole. I don’t think he’s ever going to stop no matter how many people stop buying his crap.
Michael Richards is either a racist and this isn’t going to change him, or he’s a poor guy who had a bad day and made a mistake and this is going to ruin his life. I’m not saying you should support him. In fact, I think it makes sense that you don’t. I just don’t believe that this is going to change his actual feeling or way of thinking, so I wonder what is to be accomplished. Like I sort of get you saying “for me, I don’t want to support someone’s racist behavior, so they won’t be getting any of my money” as opposed to the belief that Jesse Jackson seems to have that “if we make racism unprofitable and illegal, it will disappear.”
Right, racism isn’t going to disappear, unfortunately. But it isn’t clear to me that there is any other way with this particular case to send that message than to boycott anything he’s benefitting from financially.
that’s what I mean, I’m not sure he really benefits much from the DVDs. He’d need backend points and that’s not all that common, since he wasn’t really famous before the show. I’m certian he makes tons more from the advertising on syndication. In any case, I’m just not clear on the message that is being sent. I mean, in what way do you hope he changes? That he stops saying racist things or that he actually isn’t racist? How do you know when he has changed and its ok to watch Seinfeld again, or does that never change?
I was on vacation while this all happened, and so only saw some of the coverage. IS there any place that has the entire performance? Like was he trying to build to something–was there some sort of comedic bit he was trying for? Or did he just start freaking out at the heckler? Was it something where he was trying to do something in a bit or did he just totally lose it on the heckler?
Whatever the cause, this is going to be with him for the rest of his life.
All I’ve been able to find is that little bit. As I understand it, he wasnt’ very far into the set. He wasn’t specifically trying to build to anything. He just got heckled and tried to turn it into a bit. It went poorly and he eventually walked off stage. That said, I’ve heard some other audio clips on the Stern show of him freaking out at other hecklers and using anti-semetic remarks. So its unclear whether he thinks the freaking out at hecklers thing is part of his act or not. In any case, he just isn’t very funny. It’s not the racism that bothers me. I use racial humor all the time, and I quite enjoy it from other comedians. I just like my humor to be… you know… funny.
Isn’t he Jewish?
in response to the reports of anti-semetism, a publicist or agent or someone released a statement saying he isn’t anti-semetic because he is jewish. When people checked and saw that that isn’t true, they released an ammended statement that said that although Richards wasn’t born to jewish parents nor has he ever actually converted to judaism, he has many jewish friends and a deep understanding and appreciation for the jewish lifestyle.
You know… kinda how I am chinese.
WU-TANG FOREVER!!!
I agree. If he was going after the heckler, was he going for a joke? And if not whats the point of being venimous to your paying audience?
I have heard some comedians go after audience memebers and usually they are trying to be funny. It might bother the person but its done in humour [like the time the Rev Bob Levy announced to the crowd that he was going to sodomize me because I had on a nice suit][and no he didnt say sodimize].
What I saw from Richards looked to be really venimous, and the question is where did than venom come from? IS this something that happened regularly in his act–since it does seem a bit unusual that someone was allowed to bring a camera in and videotape the performance [since most taping of shows isnt allowed]?
So they were actually talking about it this morning on the Stern show (coincidentally with Rev Bob Levy, who has apparently worked with him), and I am inclined to agree with their assessment. Richards isn’t really a stand-up comic. He’s an actor. He did some stand-up years ago, probably before he was even on Fridays and well before he was on Seinfeld, but he really hit it big when he became Kramer. Now that the show is over, he sort of has this instant cred as a headliner at clubs, but he never really developed an act to go with it. So he shows up, and he gets a two minute pop on name recognition alone, but once that’s worn off he doesn’t really have any material to keep them hooked so they turn on him. As you know, the bigger a face you are, the bigger a heel you are after the turn. So they end up really hating him, and he’s not really prepared for it, and eventually, after 8 years (well, 7 since he had a sitcom for a minute after Seinfeld) its just gotten to him and he’s starting to crack.
Maybe it’s too late for us. But wouldn’t you want your children to grow up in a world that doesn’t use the “N” word?
Actually no. I’d want my children to grow up in a world without racial prejudice and cultural ignorance, but seeing as how that’s impossible, I’d settle for raising them to understand those things and I think banning “the N-word” is worse for that.
You see, the power behind the word “nigger” isn’t intrinsic in its spelling or pronounciation. It is embued with that power by the reminder of the hatred and intent that it represents. If everyone suddenly stopped using the word tomorrow it would simply be replaced with some other word. Hence my joke about calling people melonheads.
Take for instance FCC regulations. You can’t say “shit” on TV. So instead when someone on TV wants to say them they say “shoot” instead. Little kids say “darn” instead of “damn.” Is that somehow less offensive? Why? The meaning is the same. If everyone stopped saying “shit” all of a sudden and started saying “shoot” instead then sooner or later the FCC would decide it was derogatory and block that instead.
Should my kid be offended if someone called them a nigger? Of course, but should they be any less offended if someone called them a “a dirty, ignorant african american?” I don’t think so. I’d rather spend my energies teaching my children to rise above such petty racism. Not resorting to it, and understanding where the offense actually lies. With the feelings, not the verbiage.
You just made me realize that this is EXACTLY the same issue as the RETARDED anti-flag-burning fetish some people seem to have (and some politicians seem to want to pander to).
yep. For the record, I am also pro flag burning. When you make a decision to go out in the street and set a flag on fire, it makes a statement and its one that people pay attention to. Granted, you evoke a certain reaction, but they certainly pay attention. So when you have a message, you have to make the decision whether setting a flag on fire helps or hurts your message and you accept the response of the audience that views the flag burning. Its the same with walking out into a crowd yelling “nigger” over and over again.
Sadly , this is the most promotion/press he has got in quite a while.
I know the old saying “theres no such thing as bad press” but I dont think it applies.
if you look at ugly through rose colored lenses it’s still ugly.
It’s just pink.
AWESOME quote
thanx. I was pretty proud of that myself.