<p>LOS ANGELES - Michael Richards stunned a comedy club audience, shouting racial epithets at people who heckled him during a stand-up routine.</p>
<p>The 57-year-old actor-comedian, best known for playing Jerry Seinfeld’s eccentric neighbor Kramer on the hit TV show “Seinfeld,” was performing at the Laugh Factory in West Hollywood Friday night when he launched into the verbal rampage, according to video posted on TMZ.com.</p>
<p>The tirade apparently began after two black audience members started shouting at him that he wasn’t funny.</p>
<p>Richards retorted: “Shut up! Fifty years ago we’d have you upside down with a [expletive] fork up your [expletive].”</p>
<p>He then paced across the stage taunting the men for interrupting his show, peppering his speech with racial slurs and profanities.</p>
<p>“You can talk, you can talk, you’re brave now [expletive]. Throw his [expletive] out. He’s a n-----!” Richards shouts before repeating the racial epithet over and over again…"</p>
<p>I saw the video and in addition to being blatantly racist, it was bizzare. There’s no excuse for this on Richards’ part just as there was no excuse for what Mel Gibson stated during his rant.</p>
<p>I heard it on the radio. It was mostly bleeps! For some reason they bleep out the “N” word, but fortunately there was a translator on the radio show. (It was talk radio, not news). The guy just went nuts. What I find most disturbing about this incident - and I also found it similar to Mel Gibson’s tirade - is what comes out when alcohol or rage releases all inhibitions.</p>
<p>It was watching a man self-destruct right there in front of us. It was truly amazing. His rage was uncontrollable. I agree that , like with Mel, something deeply dark and disturbing was living down there.</p>
<p>parent2noles…what like the N word isn’t said anywhere else in hate? richards was a jerk, he will pay, but to make the statement implying its a “hollywood” thing is absurd. they just get caught</p>
<p>Unfortunately, stuff from Hollywood via actors has much more influence than errors you or I might make - public or not. That’s why ‘Hollywood’ get’s criticised.</p>
<p>funny though if he had leapt off the stage and smacked them you wouldnt be talking,…since foul words are reviled as a lighter form of violence, an indication of darkly harbored intentions,…that is, people can think what they want as long as they dont act upon those thoughts. Hate in the heart is hated because it leads to nasty acts. This was a nasty act that people attend to feel a little thrill at the places they are taken by the comediens monologue which traditionally is driven by anger and bitterness. No surprise when such tightrope walks across poorly drawn lines of demarcation collapse into bloody polaroids. Loss of control always has been the first sin. Still, if only he had hurled a pie in the face instead of invectives,…</p>
<p>I absolutely saw an apology from Richards, today on CNN. </p>
<p>I thought what he did and said was utterly disgraceful. But I am not jumping on the “Let’s use this to further disparage those awful Hollywood types”. People of all persuasions say and do stupid things.</p>
<p>Interesting. It’s okay to make blanket, stereotypical statements about the “religious right”–they exhibit “racism, homophobia and bigotry”–but not about members of the HOLYwood community.</p>
<p>“People of all persuasions say and do stupid things.” What tolerance we have witnessed being exhibited this morning! What a difference a day makes! :rolleyes:</p>
<p>I don’t think he had much choice about owning up to it if he wanted to play gigs other than for groups like the Ku Klux Klan. Otherwise, what he did killed his career. Even with his apology, it still may have killed his career.</p>
<p>People who aren’t racist to the core don’t spew out such hate filled epithets when under stress. What happened during that show was that he lost control and showed his true self.</p>
<p>Does this really come as a surprise? Are we really expecting much better from the Hollywood crowd … the good liberals who live in mansions and love to have their pillows fluffed at 1600 Penn Avenue? Aren’t they simple actors who try to please a crowd in a mnost hypocritical manner? </p>
<p>For this case, it’s interesting and quite funny to see the same audience and supporting cast having to compare Barbie’s actions to Cosmo’s. Ever wonder how the star addresses her janitors and gardeners when they mess up around the house? I’d wager that plenty of colorful epithets spew out from underneath the nose! </p>
<p>“I agree that , like with Mel, something deeply dark and disturbing was living down there.”</p>
<p>Yep. When non-racist people get drunk/high, you don’t hear this kind of crap. What a shame that someone with so much talent has so much cruelty inside.</p>
<p>I don’t see the relationship between this and what Barbra Streisand did, except that both of their words have to be bleeped on TV. Cursing out one individual, even with very harsh language, reveals only hatred for that one individual. That may not be admirable, but neither is it evil IMHO. In contrast, using the n-word or other racist language reveals hatred for that group as a whole. It shows that you have contempt for that individual not simply because of his actions, but also because of his membership in a group that you hate. That says a great deal about your character and values.</p>
<p>Of course, if anyone has seen “Borat”, we see what happens when a group of people have too much to drink, and begin hooting and hollering and laughing about “Throw the Jews down the well”. That’s one of many such examples.</p>
<p>It’s nice and bigoted, and these aren’t Hollywood liberals, but cowboys or southerners.</p>