End Of The 'N'-Word In Entertainment?
After Michael Richards' Rant, Black Leaders Ask Stars To Stop Using Racial Slur
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Richards Discusses Tirade
Michael Richards' apologized again on the Rev. Jesse Jackson's radio show for a racial tirade at a comedy club. Hattie Kauffman reports.
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Did Richards Kill His Career?
When comedian Michael Richards let loose a string of racial slurs during a stand-up routine, he might have ruined his career. Hannah Storm speaks with Sally Stewart, a media crisis expert.
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'Seinfeld' Actor Apologizes
Michael Richards apologized for a tirade captured on a cell phone camera at a Los Angeles comedy club. The actor talked to "Late Show" host David Letterman and his former co-star Jerry Seinfeld.
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The Rev. Jesse Jackson, second from left, comedian Paul Mooney, left, and Willis Edwards, right, a member of the national board of the NAACP, listen in as U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., speaks during a news conference in Los Angeles on Nov. 27, 2006. (AP Photo/Ric Francis)
The Rev. Jesse Jackson and others said they will meet with TV networks, film companies and musicians to discuss the "N"-word.
"We want to give our ancestors a present," Jackson said at a news conference. "Dignity over degradation."
Jackson says the Richards episode shows the word still has the power to hurt and belittle, even though it has been co-opted into much of the African-American vernacular.
"We must not profit off degradation and self-hate to a music beat," he said. "We deserve a higher sense of dignity and respect."
Jackson also asked the public to not buy a DVD box set of the seventh season of the TV show "Seinfeld" that was released last week.
Richards, who played the wacky neighbor, Kramer, on "Seinfeld," triggered outrage with a Nov. 17 racial tirade against two black men when he was heckled during a stand-up comedy routine at the Laugh Factory nightclub in West Hollywood. A patron recorded the outburst with a video camera phone.
"We want to give our ancestors a present. Dignity over degradation."
Jesse JacksonAt the news conference, comedian Paul Mooney said he has used the "N"-word numerous times during stand-up performances but will no longer do so after watching Richards' rant.
"He's my Dr. Phil," the black comedian said. "He's cured me."
Mooney is just one of many entertainers who use the word. In a standup routine, comedian Chris Rock declared that there are "black people and there's niggers. The niggers have got to go."
Asked about free-speech issues, Jackson said the word is "unprotected."
But not every black person feels that the word should be banned. University of Southern California professor of cinematic arts Todd Boyd says today's black artists have embraced the word and use it almost as a term of endearment.
"If you listen to the way Michael Richards used the word nigger and then listen to the way nigga is used in hip hop, it's clearly two different words and it means two different things," he told CBS News correspondent Bill Whitaker.
U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., charged that only situations such as the Richards incident turn mainstream media attention to issues involving the black community.
"This is not simply about whether or not the black community forgives or forgets. This is about understanding that this is pervasive, that this happens in all of our institutions, one way or the other," Waters said.Photos: Michael Richards
©MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Photos: Michael Richards



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See all 72 CommentsWhat about the **** word, the kike word and the *** word?
What about the *** word, the **** word and the Queer word?
Hmmm?
Because you can't. Accept it. Find another word to say.
What? Blacks have leaders? Where have they been as we've had over a decade of the most obscene,violent, racist,misogynistic,disgusting,degrading,deplorable lyrics from black rap stars. Whites have had this *** shoved down our throats, we've had to try to explain the whole gangsta thing to our kids, geez, if only we would have known there were actually black leaders. And now they're calling for a boycott on Seinfeld. pathetic.
Give a gift to our predecessors who were burned at the stake.
Maybe we can also suggest "Black Entertainment Television" change their name to "Entertainment Television." Let's get rid of prejudice in all of its forms.
Fritz
http://heathenmiddle.com
Fritz
It is funny how you learn things sometimes. I had never heard the word before until, when I was a kid, I was watching an episode of the Jeffersons I don't remember all the details, but a white guest star called George Jefferson that. The look that Sherman Hemsley projected for his character spoke volumes. I don't even remember so much what happened after that as I do that look. From that point on I just new it was a word that should never be uttered.
Of course as I grew up and learned about the history of the US it all made more and more sense. But what is etched in my memory as why, even now, I can't ever say that word is that look on Sherman Hemsley/George Jefferson's face.
Where is this scum bag Jessie Jackson telling America to not buy all this black racial hate rap trash?
SICK SICK SICK
Jesse Jackson
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then tell all your black freak rapper trash singers (who you're too skeerd to speak out about) to stop giving black people such a bad name.....blacks are -way- more racist than white people have been in the last decade.
He's getting side tracked.
The problem is not Black's relatively HARMLESS use of a mere word among themselves.
The problem is, was, and always has been BIGOTED WHITES AND WHITE HATE.
Let's deal with the issue at hand -- this fool, this rabid racist richard. He IS the issue for now.
Jesse Jackson is not protecting anyone. He just wants power, same as Maxine Waters. They'll give you the illusion of safety and then strip you of your rights.
It's time to make comedy FUNNY again...not try to vent hostility, rudeness, racism, sexism, homophobia and just outright meanspiritedness on others and say "oh, it's just a joke" or "I was only kidding" or worse..."I was drunk or high."
Oh, the pain those crackers caused us, generations and generations ago. It's still unbearable, you know.
Selah
It seems that the ones who are protesting the loudest over this latest word issue are doing it for some sort of attention. No, I don%u2019t agree with Richard's outburst, I think he needs to sort out issues through counseling, but apologies have been made yet it%u2019s not enough. What will it take? When will enough be enough? Jessie Jackson is not the answer, he%u2019s just a catalyst that will make this thing linger as long as he can get a mug-shot on TV whenever he gets the chance.
draw imaginary
Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton are opportunist who only represent themselves and the unfortunate ignorant souls who haven't the deliberative faculty to stand for themselves. Kramer is not a real issue. Institutionalized racism is. I worry about the closet racists who do not hire minorities, red line minority districts to restrict voting rights, destroy educational opportunities, and whose wives bump into you at the supermarket without even the slightest hint at excuse me because saying such to a person of color enrages them.
If blacks want non-blacks to not use the 'N' word, then they have to stop using it too. No double standard!
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