"I'm Not a Racist" -- Really?

46. Are you really serious? While he might have been reacting to relentless hecklers, the fact that the first thing he reached for in his comedian's arsenal was racial epithets, is truly frightening. You have a fight with your Black friend and the first thing you do is call him/ her a Ni**er? Just because you are unaware of your bigotry at all times, just because you don't call every Black person you meet a Ni**er doesn't mean you aren't a racist. Wishing something isn't true is besides the point. You are what you do. This doesn't mean he is eternally evil; he's just a racist. Instead of trying to explain his behavior and act shattered, he needs to really consider what he said in his own words, "what lies beneath".

Posted at 12:34PM on Nov 21st 2006 by Zora

47. So seriously MR is racist and I get the rage part of it all but I think my major concern is all those people who are like what about black comedians and the democrats?? Do you understand the difference between a comedy show and a racist triade???

Does it really matter to my life whether he's racist or not?? The answer is no. Was what he said offensive?? I'm sure. But who is he that anyone cares. For all the racists in the world, he just seems to be a racist who ran out of good jokes...

Did we really respect 'Kramer' that much that were devastated?? It's not like he chose to ignore the cries of help from blacks in New Orleans or anything....

We're giving him way too much power...

Posted at 12:35PM on Nov 21st 2006 by Are you kidding me??!!

48. What we witnessed on screen is just a short part of what had happened on stage.Will those of us that were not in the audience ever see the entire tape, I suspect not. I have been to see many comedic performers , Foxx, Carlin, Williams, Sinbad, Murphy, Pryor, and even Buddy Hacket....each performer pushed the envelope. Michael Richards made the mistake of letting his temper get away from him. He is no more a racist than the blacks that heckeled him and made comments against his being white ( oh I forgot it is ok to dump on whites only blacks, latinos,jews,asians are protected)
So many performers of "color" or "ethnicity" have developed mantras in their acts against whites I guess it has become acceptable.

The question is why did the management allow the heckling to continue? Every heckler I have ever seen was handled very quickly by management. I place equal amounts the blame on the management and the racist hecklers.

MICHAEL RICHARDS STAND TALL BE PROUD THAT YOU ADMITED YOU WERE OUT OF LINE> NOW LET US SEE IF MANAGEMENT AND THE RACIST HECKLERS CAN STAND AS TALL AND ADMIT THAT THEY WERE AS WRONG AS WELL>

Posted at 12:37PM on Nov 21st 2006 by arlo weed jr.

49. Jeff,

You are a pathetic excuse for a human being... You would never say what you just posted to one black person or any minority or other group of ethnic people if there were only you and that one person in the room. I'm going for the stereotypical reason here, because you would get your racist white ass kicked. You must have felt inferior your whole life, you have self hate, and try to act like you have pride... You have no intellect, and try to come off like you have an ounce of education. Your reality should be " you can't beat us Mother Fucker so you better try to join us, and sit down and shut the fuck up...

Posted at 12:35PM on Nov 21st 2006 by DIARY OF A MAD BLACK GIRL ;-)

50. Michael Richards is a no talent hack who's never done much of anything other than his appearances on the Seinfeld show. How would he like if if someone hurled a Jewish slur at him? What's with the double standard that Jewish folks can make slurs against the blacks? Richards is disgusting, a liar, a racist and what little career he had is over. He needs to get off the planet as he's already offended every race on this one!

Posted at 12:40PM on Nov 21st 2006 by Cassandra

51. Why is it that whenever there is a 'video expose' of someone doing something - the person that publishes it seems to deliberately cut out the beginning. It smacks of editing to make them one sided? I really can not tell if Richards was wrong because the audience comments that sparked the exchange seem to have been deliberately. So ... will someone please publish the entire sequence and let people then decide.

Posted at 12:53PM on Nov 21st 2006 by Mark

52. Mark, what you fail to realize is that if Richards was saying the end word in a comedy skit, it might offend people but not in the way he went on a racist tirade because of some hecklers who kept telling him he wasn't funny... Stand Up Comedians have experienced this happening since the beginning of comedy... He didn't make jokes about the two hecklers who happened to be black, he put them down and showed his bigotry. If you think this is the same as a black/hispanic/asian comic using racial sterotypes in their skits, you are wrong...

Posted at 12:40PM on Nov 21st 2006 by DIARY OF A MAD BLACK GIRL ;-)

53. How different would it have been if MR was a black man saying these things. Sad everyone is so quick to point out his shortcomings but nobody even considers the person who is yelling back at him in the tape keeping the whole thing going calling him a "cracker". I don't think he is racist, he just took the argument somewhere it didn't really have to go.

Posted at 12:40PM on Nov 21st 2006 by Think about it

54. Say what you will about Michael Richards, but I'll bet that audience member will think twice before heckling another comedian. Richards was just trying to make a living. What gives anyone the right to yell out and disrupt his act? Was it a bad reaction? Of course. But maybe he was just pushed to the brink. The tape doesn't show what went on before the tirade, does it?

Posted at 12:42PM on Nov 21st 2006 by K.C. Sullivan

55. Regardless of how mad you get with someone, racial slurs just do not come out of your mouth unless it is how you really feel. This isn't an accident. He spoke on how he really feels. He would have just made others remaks not racial ones. I don't care what ethnicity you are you just don't make racial slurs. Besides there are so many ethnicities aside from blacks that were forced in this screwed up country...don't get mad now that they are here to stay. They didn't ask to come. So deal with it.

Posted at 5:40PM on Nov 21st 2006 by Dani

56. Free Association? Really, Siggy Freud would have a field day with this Nuttjob. Whats clear is that he freely associates blacks with the N-word and is a racist coward. Plus did you hear how he was speaking on Letterman? Guy could barely get a incoherent sentence out of his mouth, some apology. Seems like he may have a drug and/or alcohol problem too, maybe he ran out of meds onstage and thats why he flipped. Kramer Richards=Racist, hell has a special place in its netherworld inferno for bigots like Kramer. Nuff Said.

Posted at 12:42PM on Nov 21st 2006 by Scooter

57. OK first of all, those two guys in the audience were just simple niggers, yes they were. The definition of nigger is not a black man but any ignorant person of any color. Just because the general public associates nigger with black people doesn't mean that is the only race that can be a nigger. Every race has niggers.

Granted the part about sticking pitch forks up their asses was pretty racist, I don't think those dumb ass guys in the audience knew how to comprehend that joke anyway. They just kept saying "THAT WAS UNCALLED FOR!" No your rude actions and non-existent manners were uncalled for. Leave it to a nigger to insult some poor guy into snapping and freaking out on stage.

I'm not racist but there IS a difference between respectable black men and disrespectful black niggers. Just like there IS a difference between white trash and productive members of society.

Posted at 2:11PM on Nov 21st 2006 by The Truth

58. This Richard guy, really, is a no talent hack. He won the equivalent of the lottery when hired for that old NBC show. Other than that, he’s pretty sub-intelligent with no talent to speak of. In a few short seconds, you got to know a person that most of his friends already knew. His “character” was on display for public appearances in the past, but he left it home that fateful evening. Personally, I have no idea why anyone would give away their money to see this particular person. It’s not like he’s making movies, doing other television shows and dining with A-list stars. I am just glad that the public realized first-hand the type of person he is. And thank him for doing absolutely nothing in helping to break down the color issue’s we face in this country. Man, I can’t stand entertainers.

Posted at 2:30PM on Nov 21st 2006 by Tomen8r

59. This clip is absolutely tasteless. For a white man to completely disrespect the black race all because he had a couple of hecklers.... I DO beleive he is a racist...from this point on, I will not watch another eposide of Seinfeld, just because that bastard is on it. I LOVE my black skin(which some of you white people try to imitate..tanning booths, laying in the sun, sprays, etc.), my culture (which so many of you white people copy), and my history. In no way, shape or fashion am I a nigger - hell, I don't even use the word! He sure as hell does not have the right to use it.

Posted at 12:44PM on Nov 21st 2006 by Jerra Mitchell

60. TMZ IS SUCKING BADLY -

SIX Fucking stories on this bullshit from LAST FRIDAY night? On the front page of your site? OMFGWTFBBQIRL!!


Somebody eat at Ivy or something quick!

Posted at 1:23PM on Nov 21st 2006 by Joe Schmoe