'Seinfeld's' Richards Spews Racial Slurs

(CBS)  "Seinfeld" alum Michael Richards spewed racial remarks at a heckler in the crowd during a set at The Laugh Factory last Friday in West Hollywood, TMZ reports.

A video on the site shows the actor, 57, who made a name for himself as Kramer, Jerry Seinfeld's neighbor on the sitcom "Seinfeld," repeatedly yelling racial remarks at a man who sat in the audience at the comedy club. It apparently happened after someone in the crowd said he wasn't funny.

"Fifty years ago we'd have you upside down with a f------ fork up your ass," he says while on stage.

"You can talk, you can talk, you're brave now motherf------. Throw his ass out. He's a n-----! He's a n-----! He's a n-----! A n-----, look, there's a n-----!"

Gasps and boos from the crowd can be heard in the video. One of the men who Richards yelled at shouted back "That's un-f------ called for. Ain't necessary," TMZ reports.

A call from the The ShowBuzz to the actor's agent was not returned on Monday morning.

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Click here to see photos of Michael Richards

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Darryl Pitts is a black man who was in the audience that night. "He just took all of the air out of the room," Pitts told CNN. "He needs to make a public apology to everyone."

2CNN reports that Richards was back on stage 24 hours later. He told CNN off camera that he felt sorry for what happened and he made amends — to whom or how, he didn't say.

Jerry Seinfeld issued a statement to the Associate Press on Monday saying he was "sick over this."

"I'm sure Michael is also sick over this horrible, horrible mistake. It is so extremely offensive. I feel terrible for all the people who have been hurt," Seinfeld said.

Comedian Paul Rodriguez was at the club when it happened and told the AP he thought Richards' comments crossed the line.

"Once the word comes out of your mouth and you don't happen to be African-American, then you have a whole lot of explaining," he said. "Freedom of speech has its limitations and I think Michael Richards found those limitations."

According to the AP, actor-comedian George Lopez told Los Angeles TV station KTLA that he thought Richards' lack of stand-up experience may have been a factor.

"The question is you have an actor who is trying to be a comedian who doesn't know what to do when an audience is disruptive," Lopez said. "He's an actor whose show has been off the air, he shouldn't ever be on a stand-up gig."

[gash_them]

http://www.workers.org/ww/1998/seinfeld0528.php

[gash_them]

PEOPLE OF COLOUR COME TOGETHER, WE CAN MAKE IT, THIS IS A END TIME BATTLE


ALL HISPANIC, ASIANS, MIDDLE EASTNERS, BLACKS, INDIANS, AFRICANS

RESPECT EACHOTHER, FOR THEM WE ARE ALL SAME. SO NO NEED TO QUARREL. STOP FIGHT EACHOTHER & MAKE CASH. CASH RULES THIS WORLD IF YOU HAVE IT YOU WILL BE ALLRIGHT. IT IS NOT RIGHT TO PUT THE TRUST IN MONEY BUT MONEY IS THE ONLY WAY FROM OUT OF THIS BONDAGE OF WHITE SUPREMACY. WE MUST BUILD A BETTER WORLD AND KEEP IT LOCKED FROM VAMPIRES.


SANDOKAN THE ASIAN LION

[gash_them]

PEOPLE OF COLOUR COME TOGETHER, WE CAN MAKE IT, THIS IS A END TIME BATTLE

PEOPLE OF COLOUR COME TOGETHER, WE CAN MAKE IT, THIS IS A END TIME BATTLE

PEOPLE OF COLOUR COME TOGETHER, WE CAN MAKE IT, THIS IS A END TIME BATTLE

[warlance-2009]

I have lost ALL respect for Michael Richards. He displayed a complete lack of professionalism and showed why his post-Seinfeld series only lasted one episode. This no talent BIGGOT just threw away any hopes for a career he might have had. As for his appology, it was not believable either. He should not have to apologize, for he was merely showing his true nature, much like many of those responding in this blog. Racism and bigotry are part of America, since it's very foundation is built upon the annihilation of one race and the enslavement of another - all based on race. Michael Richards' immature tirade is merely another reflection of this fact. The intergenerationa trauma experienced by minorities has now come full circle now that the minorities are now the majority. I truly do not see the humor in Michael Richards' tirade and no longer see the humor in the Seinfeld reruns. His racial hatred has become quite evident, along with his immaturity and complete lack of talent.

[riclanders]

I don't like the idea that there's a word so awful that once a person uses it his public life is over.

What bothers me is that when we ramp-up the the penalty for the use of the N-word -- public death -- we give it a power no word should have.

Also, we obliquely encourage even more use of it by the gangster rap element.

You think they over-use the word now? Wait until they hear the hysteria "Richard's" use of it caused.

I forgive Richards because not forgiving him gives him a power over me I refuse to let him (or anyone!) have.

[dixiegent67]

those poor black boys that heard the n word,poor poor boys,yea right,like they have never said worst,i wouldnt have apologized for anything,freedom of speech goes for whites as well as for a couple of offended black guys that couldnt keep their mouths shut to start with,if he hadnt been heckled,they wouldnt have pissed him off,why dont they just go back to the hood and carjack someone,and forget the whole thing,i know,pretend he was richard pryor,or eddie murphy,and that fixes everything,,,,,

[riclanders]

I don't like the idea that there's a word so awful that once a person uses it his public life is over.

What bothers me is that when we ramp-up the the penalty for the use of the N-word -- public death -- we give it a power no word should have.

Also, we obliquely encourage even more use of it by the gangster rap element.

You think they over-use the word now? Wait until they hear the hysteria "Richard's" use of it caused.

I forgive Richards because not forgiving him gives him a power over me I refuse to let him (or anyone!) have.

[ladycascadia]

It's too bad that some people seem to think it is ok to make jokes and comments at the expense of others...whether it is racial or not. The classic comedians like Red Skelton or Lucille Ball knew how to get a laugh without having to be racist or vulgar, maybe this new breed of comedians need to learn how to do the same...

[missyj1964]

Doesn't anyone watch "Mind of Mencia"? He pulls this stuff out of his a s s all the time but no one is making him apologize. Eddie Murphy and the late Richard Pryor also did stand up routines where they mimicked white people as well as Blacks and Hispanics. No one made a big deal about that. As for the reason why some people see blacks and other minorities as "bad" is because the media hypes it up. When you see a story on the news about a shooting or a drug bust, who do you see? You see Black people and Hispanics, 9 out of 10 times. If a white person commits a crime like that, you either don't see it on the news or it's a blurb on the way to a commercial. That's sad but it is true. White people commit crimes of a horrendous nature every single day, but it's the minorities who get their faces plastered on the TV. That is exactly why white people have a stigma about Blacks and others of color. The media has been the biggest source for racism that I have ever seen.

[kailumego1]

davejwest, you are a real joke, and obviously suffering from "stupiditous". Europeans have had a long history of committing violent acts against others, the Greeks, the Romans, the English, the French, the Dutch, the Beligum, the Germans [not counting Hitlers atrocities], the Russians [not counting Stalin's merciless rage of murder against his own people, Ukrainians, Polish, and other Republics], the Spaniards, European settlers in North and South America, etc., etc., etc.

Step out of your delusion of grandeur, "The Gangs of New York" was a true story, telling the story how conditions were for Southern/Eastern European settlers.

Obviously you know very little American history, because if you did, you would reframe from the conjecture.

During the early 20th Century, huge concentrations of European imigrants resided in large urban cities, which resulted in overcrowded condidtions and high unemployment.

This period saw its premier criminal enterprises, with Italian, Irish, and Jewish mobs, terrorizing large metropolitan cities.

I guess you have know knowledge of Al Capone, Dutch Schultz, Bugsy Segal, Sam Giancanna, etc., these were a few of the criminal element during the early 20th Century, and they were not black.