Michael Richards (aka K-K-Kramer) flips out! Reveals he's a racist pig.

[NightWolve]

His career is over. I mean, if you wanna call it that and if it wasn't over already. His sarcasm was so pathetic in that too. I thought he was better than that.

His "apology" after:Haha. Well, I look forward to the next South Park episode dealing with this.

[marus]

Wow.  That's just crazy.  I never would have expected that out of him.  I always liked him in Seinfeld, but it's hard to see him the same way after watching this.

[NightWolve]

You think that's bad, look at some of the youtube comments with the first link. Man, that is both sad and amusing.

[memoryjar]

wow... what's with hollywood this year... first mel gibson now him... is it some sort of an innate trait hiding dormantly for everyone or were they just mentally suppressing it all this time?

[MP83]

Hehe, this news. Priceless.

[rocket]

wow... what's with hollywood this year... first mel gibson now him... is it some sort of an innate trait hiding dormantly for everyone or were they just mentally suppressing it all this time?

na probally just the media target for this year...

[Gamemusicfreak]

The latest Seinfeld DVDs just came out, too.  Sales aren't going to be good for that I think.

[esteban666]

The latest Seinfeld DVDs just came out, too.  Sales aren't going to be good for that I think.

I brother pointed this out to me last night! He says that there was a decent amount of promotion and marketing for the DVDs... so I, too, feel that this could affect the sales. Or maybe not, who knows.

Either way, KKKramer's rant helped make this a memorable Thanksgiving for my family and I! (NW, check  the other forum for the full scoop. If I had visited these forums first, I would have posted the anecdotes here).

EDIT: OK, I cut-n-pasted from the other forum....

Envision this scene: Last night I was having coffee / dessert with some relatives and they told me that earlier in the day they were watching the KKKramer videos on YouTube -- WITH MY GRANDMOTHER! I cringed upon hearing this and nearly spit out the apricot tart I was eating. It turns out that my Grandma (who is exceedingly prim and proper) wanted to see the videos so she could judge them for herself. I am still cringing at the thought of this.

Ahhhhhh, nothing brings the family together on the holidays like video nasties . Note: This is the same grandmother who gave me an informative booklet about the dangers of D & D and was worried that I listened to satanic music when she saw the felt Dio and Iron Maiden posters hanging in my room when I was a wee lad. I wish I still had the booklet! She gave it to me at the height of the moral panic over D & D and heavy metal. In all fairness to her, she had just been Born Again at the time...

[Tigershard]

Wow, that is really sad. A lot of the comments on YouTube are sad as well. I really hope his career is over, but just as you see wth Mel Gibson, it probably isn't. Famous people can get away with stuff like this. He might not have the same audiences as before, but they will still come.

[Falcomfan]

You know i could really care less about this.  I'd still buy a seinfeld DvD.  Some Guys were Heckling him for something like 30 minutes and finally he blew up.  Ya he said some things he probably shouldnt have but owell I dont care if the guy is even a racist as long as he makes me laugh.  Afterall point me to the Law that says you have to like people of different cultures, religions etc? 

[NightWolve]

but just as you see wth Mel Gibson, it probably isn't.

I hope Mel's apology was sincere which I believe it to be, because with him, it was especially unfortunate. All the Jewish blowhards like Foxman from the ADL that tried to destroy his career when it was revealed he was working on a Jesus movie were all made to look so foolish after the movie came out and none of the pogroms/inquisitions they promised us after its viewing materialized. Mel had them all beat, looking all stupid and silent, and then he gets drunk one day, says something about Jews causing all wars and it gets recorded in a squad car... I was just like, awww shit, you idiot... You knew then the media would carry the water for those who lost the argument about his movie, embarrassingly so, and reargue it under a "new light" which they did. That bothered me most about it. He should've been on top of the world after the movie wound up making $400 million dollars despite being attacked so much with the hope for it to bomb into oblivion, rather than wind up drinking and driving one night some time later. I couldn't for the life of me understand that. Monumental fuck up of the century after such sweet victory.

You know i could really care less about this.  I'd still buy a seinfeld DvD.  Some Guys were Heckling him for something like 30 minutes and finally he blew up.  Ya he said some things he probably shouldnt have but owell I dont care if the guy is even a racist as long as he makes me laugh.  Afterall point me to the Law that says you have to like people of different cultures, religions etc? 

The hecklers are no excuse. K-K-Kramer's response was not at all proportional. He went into an insane racist tirade. It made no sense. He wasn't drunk, he wasn't high, he was doing his stand-up act and simply flipped out at some loud-mouthed hecklers, who yes, yelled things at him like, "You ain't funny.", etc.

Of course, there is no law that says you have to like people of different races, cultures, religions, etc. but legality is not at issue. I'd also separate out characteristics which are innate, like race, versus something like culture/religion, which are learned/passed on. Hating a decent human being simply because they came into this world with a different skin color than yours is stupid. It's not very justifiable. Hatred against ideologies/religions/cultures can be justifiable and rationally explained.

Anyway, saying what he said isn't illegal in that context/setting, but you sure as hell will be judged by it. Well, actually, if that trash lieyer Gloria Allred wins her lawsuit against K-K-Kramer, which would essentially be using the power of the state to punish someone for something they said, we could say there is illegality in expressing dislike of people based on race, etc.

K-K-Kramer was wrong morally, and if the payday lawsuit is successful, he'll be wrong legally/lawfully too...

Laugh Factory's Official statement (http://www.laughfactory.com/comedyclubpress/statement.html):

For 28 years the Laugh Factory has prided itself on being the only club that guaranteed laughter. On Friday night the club exercised that pledge and refunded money to its patrons for the first time. We are truly sorry for what happened. This is a comedy club and while we have always supported the comics¹ first amendment rights, we have done so with the understanding that they were exercising that right in an effort to be funny.

We do not support or condone the inappropriate, hurtful and offensive comments that Mr. Richards made on Friday night at the Laugh Factory.

Mr. Richards was scheduled to appear on Saturday night and had informed management of his intention to apologize for his hurtful and unprofessional outburst from the previous night. He failed to do so and disappointed us.

We have made it clear that Mr. Richards is no longer welcomed here. The Laugh Factory is a comedy club not a forum for personal attacks.

(NW, check  the other forum for the full scoop. If I had visited these forums first, I would have posted the anecdotes here).

Yeah, I saw. The media and we love our trainwrecks, don't we?

[SkyeWelse]

I for one have yet to watch the videos, purposely. Everything I'm feeling towards Michael Richards right now is pretty much only based on the things I've heard about "the comments" he made. Sure I'm very upset to hear this news since his character of Kramer on Seinfeld has always been a personal favorite of mine. I'm sure if I were to actually sit down and watch the video in action, it would put a terrible thought/feeling/taste, whatever you want to call it in my head about watching his character in Seinfeld from hereon out. I think I'd prefer to just leave this news as news about the actor Michael Richards and not the character of Kramer that he played on Seinfeld. It's an image that I'm fairly sure I don't want to ruin for myself.

-SkyeWelse

[Tigershard]

I found out on CNN that Sinbad was in the audience, check out the interview with him. It is near the bottom of the page, left column:

http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/TV/11/26/richards.ap/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

[memoryjar]

^^ sinbad makes a good point about that everything in hollywood gets forgotten because the show will go on and the audience will eventually change their attention to something else.

[esteban666]

I'm sure if I were to actually sit down and watch the video in action, it would put a terrible thought/feeling/taste, whatever you want to call it in my head about watching his character in Seinfeld from hereon out. I think I'd prefer to just leave this news as news about the actor Michael Richards and not the character of Kramer that he played on Seinfeld. It's an image that I'm fairly sure I don't want to ruin for myself.

-SkyeWelse

I think you made the right decision. Personally, I'll never see any of Richards' stuff the same way (i.e. Kramer or Stanley Spudowski in UHF). Thankfully, though, I always thought George was the best character on the show (Newman was lame, as far as I am concerned). I've gone from liking Kramer, to hating the character, to liking it again.

[sideshow]

Stanley Spudowski!  What a great character that was.  I believe Fran dresher also got her career started on UHF. 

[NightWolve]

Thanks for the Sinbad link. His analogy was pretty much nail on the head. It's especially important to get the opinion of people that were there that night because some individuals are trying to defend Richards on the basis that the video was being recorded only at the moment of the tirade and that you don't get to see what the hecklers were doing earlier to have caused Richards' explosive response. Sinbad explained pretty much what I had been saying, it just wasn't a proportional/understandable response to common heckling/loud-mouth behavior that comics tend to encounter with such gigs. Nothing the hecklers could've done or said would've made it proportional/understandable, simply put. They just served as a trigger for him to vent and oh boy did he vent!!!

[NightWolve]

(Newman was lame, as far as I am concerned).

"Hel-lo... Newman..."

I always loved that BTW!!!

[JoeQuaker]

Yeah dude is crazy. Plain and simple... now we all know his charactor in the show wasn't all that far from reality. He is, and only will be, Kramer. The television version was his PG-13 version. Growing up in the south I hear that word A LOT, and it's NEVER funny unless perhaps used in a Richard Pryor or Dave Chapelle (the "blind and black guy who thinks he's white" skit comes to mind) fashion. For him to stand there and just say it the way he did is just plain wrong. Going on Jessie Jacksons show.... BAD move. Just stfu and disappear. You are over, finished.

[esteban666]

(Newman was lame, as far as I am concerned).

"Hel-lo... Newman..."

I always loved that BTW!!!

Yeah, I liked that line as well . Jerry delivered it well. I also liked it when Jerry's mom addressed Newman in the same manner. She was even better .

[MP83]

[NightWolve]

Hahahha. Excellent!!

esteban666 and I can think of at least one individual that this video was made for and who needs to see it...

[esteban666]

Hahahha. Excellent!!

esteban666 and I can think of at least one individual that this video was made for and who needs to see it...

Yes, that "Lost Episode" is nicely done .

Also, I just noticed MP83's banner / sig ... ha!