NYT/AP: "Seinfeld" Star Michael Richards' Racial Tirade Draws Castigation

[DeepModem Mom]

Richards Racial Tirade Draws Castigation
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: November 20, 2006

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A barrage of racial epithets unleashed by former ''Seinfeld'' star Michael Richards during a stand-up comedy routine drew condemnation from Richards' industry colleagues.

Comedian Paul Rodriguez, who was at the Laugh Factory in West Hollywood on Friday when Richards responded to two black hecklers with the ''n'' word and profanities, said he was shocked by Richards' remarks....

Jerry Seinfeld issued a statement 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 of Richards, 57, who played eccentric Kramer on the hit 1989-98 sitcom and whose major credit since was the failed 2000 comedy series, ''The Michael Richards Show.''...

His Laugh Factory tirade began after the two clubgoers shouted at him that he wasn't funny. A videotape of the incident was posted on TMZ.com....

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/arts/AP-People-Michael-Richards.html

[Zhade]

1. Well, considering he's a hack who always plays the same role...

...he must be desperate.

[tularetom]

2. He didn't act like it was a "horrible horrible mistake"

it actually seemed far more deliberate and pointed than Mel Gibson's famous outburst, and he seemed to just dig himself in deeper. I guess he can say whatever he wants but people don't have to pay to see him sound like an ignorant asshole and they won't. I think Kramer's 15 minutes of fame are about over.

[jgraz]

3. Ouch...

"Scrutiny of Richards' remarks likely will continue but won't match the level prompted by Gibson's behavior because Richards is far less famous, Levine said."

:rofl:

[Catchawave]

4. "Kramer" shouldn't HAVE to WORK?

The entire Seinfeld cast is set for life in residuals, even NEWman :) However, Michaels' tirade may lose some stations. Dumb move Kramer!

[Placebo]

5. I think it was meant to be funny.

I don't think anyone honestly believes Kramer is a racist.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

6. I agree.

Michael Richards, on the other hand, is a total racist fuck.

[Placebo]

9. lol

no way!

[silverojo]

38. Bornaginhooligan, that was hilarious!

Michael Richards is a world-class a**hole!!

[salin]

21. ya, allusions to lynchings are always good comedy

as are statements like "this is what happens when you interupt (or speak over) a white man..." yep - all misunderstood.

When he went over the top, looking at the tape it was far more than a few 'n-word's. I don't know, but to excuse it as frustration, and nothing more, means that most white people are likely to let go of a few lynching or Jim Crow allusions in anger - as it is normal and not racist. Sorry but I just don't buy it. I enjoyed the character he played in Sienfeld - but not enough to suggest that we are ALL that prone to awful, violent racist allusions if we are frustrated - in an effort to excuse his behavior. Not me. And none of my friends. If your friends are prone to such fits - and that makes it seem "normal" - well, then I don't know what to say.

[silverojo]

39. Put this in perspective....

I'm bipolar, and even BEFORE being diagnosed and put on meds, I would never have used the word "n*gger" or made such racist statements, if I were arguing with a black person. Nor would I have made racist statements against a Jew, a la Mel Gibson.

That kind of racist filth only emerges from a person who has been repressing racist thoughts.

[file83]

41. Maybe Michael Richards is an undiagnosed sufferer of Turrets Syndrome...

...:shrug: I saw the video and DAMN, that guy's voice box was tapped directly into his medulla oblongata - pure rage. Reptilian verbal assault. I'm pretty sure that on a daily, professional basis, he doesn't have these feelings at all. You don't get to where he is by being the asshole we saw on stage - it must be a recent development. What a train wreck.

[True_Blue]

49. He was downright scary!

He lost it....he really lost it. With a temper like that I'm surprised he's been around as long as he has.

[colorado_ufo]

58. Correct!

I, and my whole family, are from the Deep South originally, and not one of us ever in our lifetime have said, or would say, such things.

It is reflective of deeply held beliefs and attitude.

[PurityOfEssence]

35. Just because you like someone doesn't mean they don't suck

This is a constant irritant on this board and in other socio-political discourse: people seem to be unwilling to deal with complexity. If they like someone, that person's obviously intelligent, pretty, kind, decent and generally a full-spectrum saint.

That's crap.

People are a mixed bag.

This guy's a second banana who had a decade of huge success. Unable to make it on his own since then, he's bitter, vengeful and filled with a self-proclaimed right to never be questioned. The sheer ugliness of this diatribe beggars excuses. Forgive, sure, but dismiss? No.

We all have our personal causes, and mine is a desire to root out and marginalize those who claim privilege. Privilege is the heart of selfishness and conservatism; this guy raged with the god-given dudgeon to nuke anyone who got in his way. What's worse is that he went off on a racist bent. It IS worse. It is deeply ugly, and may he fry for it.

Being a liberal, of course, I want everyone to be a part of the celebration, so if he makes his acts of contrition, he should be brought back into our embrace, but as Sarah Bernhardt so eloquently put it: "One should despise much, forgive often, and never forget."

We've witnessed the flame-out of a life here; there's no going back.

Mel Gibson will get to make more movies, but that's because he's a creator. This guy's an actor, and he only exists at the behest of others; they ain't gwine be much hestin' for him. Yes, he's got some powerful friends, but the party's over. Sad.

[Zavulon]

50. I don't think it was meant to be funny at all, and

I honestly believe Richards is a racist. Those words aren't in a person unless the person is a racist.

[jarab]

7. He's screwed ...

If it's on your lips, it's in your heart.
If it's in your heart, It WILL BE on your lips.

I know "Biloxi" has some nice drug rehabs, but I don't where he'd find a cure for this. He said it, he meant it, imo; and, he placed a few exclamation marks!
I would suspect others in-the-know will come out of the woodwork, now that he's "down". Usually works that way.

...O...

[brentspeak]

8. Apparently, Richards was inexperienced in stand-up comedy

Didn't know how to handle disruptors without losing his head.

[Zynx]

13. The fact that he turns to some of the most vitriolic racist spewage I've

ever heard as his first instinct is very revealing.

[JudyM]

36. Yep. Similar to Mel Gibson. n/t

[Lars39]

23. He started in stand-up comedy in 1979 according to this:

http://www.tv.com/michael-richards/person/998/biography.html

[brentspeak]

33. Thanks for the correction.

[phrenzy]

10. Even more than WHAT He Said...

Is HOW he said it - the venom and hate he said it with was truly disturbing. And he simply didn't stop - even when the targets of his tirade actually responded in a relatively calm way (impressive in itself) - by saying "That was fucking uncalled for man!" - he just kept going and going. Wow. I can't wait to hear the apology attempt on this one.

[brentspeak]

11. They didn't respond in a "relatively calm way"

They tossed back some racial taunts of their own: "cracker", "honky", "white-a$$".

I'm not defending Richards' comments, just pointing out that both parties acted in ugly fashion.

[Zynx]

12. If someone starts hurling such racist garbage, they deserve whatever

they get. If I walked up to an African-American and yelled "Nigger" in his face, I would fully expect to get a pretty negative response and I would deserve it.

[brentspeak]

14. So then I guess you feel the hecklers deserved to be called "ni&&er", in that case

They were the ones who started up with the racist talk before Kramer went on his tirade: "White man ain't funny," is what they were shouting prior to the 2:47 clip on youtube.

[Alexander]

16. So I guess the movie "White Men Can't Jump" is racist?

Come on, Zynx clearly thinks Richards' tirade was disgusting and uncalled for. Because it was.

There is a world of difference between the phrase "white man" and the words "nigger" or "honky". "White man" is clearly far less racist than the words exchanged in the video.

Just because he was called "white man", does that automatically give him permission to escalate it to such an ugly degree?

:eyes:

[brentspeak]

18. No, it doesn't give him permission to escalate it

But I never said it did. Zynx explicitely said that a racist comment deserves to be met with any kind of verbal response imaginable, and I wanted to point out that it was the hecklers, not Richards, who started with the racial comments.

[Alexander]

24. A "racIAL" comment is not a "racIST" comment.

From your own post:

"But I never said it did. Zynx explicitely said that a racist comment deserves to be met with any kind of verbal response imaginable, and I wanted to point out that it was the hecklers, not Richards, who started with the racial comments."

As I said, "white man" isn't even in the same league as "nigger". The former is a racial comment (ie, a comment about race), whereas the latter, in the context Richards used it, is a racist comment (ie, a derogatory comment specifically mocking someone's race).

"He started it" is not a valid excuse for anything. Zynx remains correct, and you remain contradicting yourself.

[Name removed]

28. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Alexander]

29. Apparently, you can't debate without insulting people.

Why, look here, it's Zynx's comment!

"If I walked up to an African-American and yelled "Nigger" in his face, I would fully expect to get a pretty negative response and I would deserve it."

And here are your comments, for clarification:

"But I never said it did. Zynx explicitely said that a racist comment deserves to be met with any kind of verbal response imaginable, and I wanted to point out that it was the hecklers, not Richards, who started with the racial comments."

They were the ones who started up with the racist talk before Kramer went on his tirade: "White man ain't funny," is what they were shouting prior to the 2:47 clip on youtube.

Here's my stance, in case you didn't get it before. Call a black man a "nigger", and you deserve whatever nastiness he says back at you, even if it's "honky" or some equivalent. Totally inexcusable.

But a black person saying the phrase "white man", just like a white person saying "black man", is hardly racist. Your argument that the hecklers should be subjected to Zynx's standard because they said "white man" first is total garbage, and utterly laughable on its face.

Get it? Saying "white man" is not racist. Saying "nigger" is. Is that clear enough for you, or would you like to insult me some more?

Hence, I bring you to my previous post:

As I said, "white man" isn't even in the same league as "nigger". The former is a racial comment (ie, a comment about race), whereas the latter, in the context Richards used it, is a racist comment (ie, a derogatory comment specifically mocking someone's race).

BTW, you probably don't want to go around questioning my reading comprehension skills when you make up words like "explicitely".

:rofl:

[brentspeak]

32. "Here's my stance, in case you didn't get it before...."

Your stance that you made before?

:freak: :freak: :freak: :wow:

Ever read the DU rules? Especially the one that says...

"Members are not permitted to have more than one account on Democratic Underground."

http://www.democraticunderground.com/forums/rules_detailed.html

[Alexander]

34. I made 3 posts about this topic, and you accuse me of having multiple accounts?

:wtf:

Are you somehow suggesting I'm Zynx? What the hell do you mean by all this? My posts have been entirely consistent.

Just because your argument is a failed one doesn't mean you can go randomly accusing me of having more than one account.

You might want to check the DU rules yourself...

"Do not hurl insults at other individual members of this message board."

"Do not publicly accuse another member of this message board of being a disruptor, conservative, Republican, FReeper, or troll, or do not otherwise imply they are not welcome on Democratic Underground. If you think someone is a disruptor, click the "Alert" link below their post to let the moderators know."

[EFerrari]

20. And that's the context, isn't it? Without which everyone is freaking out.

This whole exchange was meant to hurt as much as possible, not be some kind of sworn statement of heartfelt truth.

I've seen too many comedians try to deal with idiot hecklers to be able to get too mad at this one. He was out of control and his audience is going to kick his ass. But we have no idea who he is or if he's a racist or not from this exchange. All we know is that he can reach for the language of racism if he feels he needs to.

[brentspeak]

27. Thank you. Some sanity.

Too many people here are quick to call someone a "racist apologist" or even a "racist" if another poster doesn't agree with them that Richards' comments -- racist as they are -- are proof-positive that he keeps a selection of white sheets and hoods in his closet. The same goes for people who insist that everyone should agree with them that Richards be tarred-and-feathered for the incident in question; if you don't agree with them, you too must be either a "racist" or otherwise someone who is insensitive to black people. What if you're the sort who makes it a policy not to consider black people or white people as "black" people or "white" people, but simply as "people", regardless of how anyone else wants you to think?

[EFerrari]

30. No one in my husband's audience knows who he is

and even if he were to melt down on stage, it would still be "in character". He's a performer, not a witness.

Too bad we're so laid back here on DU. :)

[file83]

42. I've noticed that too.

As soon as anyone makes a point, as cerebral as the point may be, they get attacked by some *ahem* person that takes your point OUT of context, turns it around (spins it, like a DJ), and attacks you for being guilty of EXACTLY what you are pointing out as the flaw in the parent poster.

I've seen it here at the DU a THOUSAND FUCKING TIMES. You aren't alone.

I, for one, understood your point CRYSTAL CLEAR. And may I add, I agreed with your point 100%. :thumbsup:

Not all of us here at the DU are dipshits.

[NorthernSpy]

60. funny thing is, if you rewrite Richards' rant to refer to Jews instead..

... no one, but no one, will have any trouble identifying the resulting spew as anti-Semitic, or the spewer as an honest-to-badness anti-Semite.

I think you -- and those who agree with you on this -- are being awfully disingenuous.

What if you're the sort who makes it a policy not to consider black people or white people as "black" people or "white" people, but simply as "people", regardless of how anyone else wants you to think?

Like I said: disingenuous.

We're talking about a white man who, upon having two black guys tell him that he isn't funny, starts fantasizing aloud about the good old days when people like him could have people like them forcibly sodomized and killed if they gave the slightest offense. To refuse to consider "black" and "white" isn't some higher enlightenment: it's just a refusal to acknowledge the issue at hand, even while pretending to discuss it.

And that's disingenuous.

[brentspeak]

65. You say I'm being disingenuous

and claim that had Richards gone on an anti-Semitic rant, no one, "but no one", would have failed to label such a rant as anti-Semitic, or fail to label Richards himself as an anti-Semite.

Do a search on "brentspeak" and "mel gibson". You'll find that I defend Gibson regarding his anti-Semitic rant. No, the anti-Semitic rant I didn't really defend; but I argued against the idea that he should be labeled a "bad guy" or even an "anti-Semite" on the basis of that incident alone.

So I'm not "being disingenuous", after all. And a lot of other people responding here on DU in similar fashion are also not being disingenuous.

(Also, could you please point out exactly who here has denied that what came out of Richards' mouth was racist in nature?)

As for the second part of your post, your view that my refusal to consider people as "black" and "white" is actually some sort of weakness or failing on my part: you're going to need to come to grips with an increasing number of people who refuse to go along with a) the continuing absurdity of thinking about or treating other people differently-- either more negatively or more positively -- because of the color of their skin; and b) an increasing number of people who will reject and happily ignore the self-appointed racial, gender, and ethnic politics Thought Police. Unless your name is God, nobody should debase themselves by adjusting to your or anybody else's thought demands.

[NorthernSpy]

68. wow... disingenuousness AND equivocation!

Do a search on "brentspeak" and "mel gibson". You'll find that I defend Gibson regarding his anti-Semitic rant. No, the anti-Semitic rant I didn't really defend; but I argued against the idea that he should be labeled a "bad guy" or even an "anti-Semite" on the basis of that incident alone.

That's equivocation. I wasn't talking about what Mel Gibson said. I wrote that if what Richards said were altered to refer to Jews, no one would mistake the anti-Semitism of the utterance, or of the utterer.

And instead of replying to that, you offer up some stuff that you said about a remark made by Mel Gibson. But you offer no reason why we should consider what Gibson said and what Richards said to be actually equivalent utterances, apart from the obvious ethnic hostility of each.

[regularguy]

48. We have a crystal clear idea of if he is racist or not.

His racism shines through with the burning clarity of the sun. I cannot for the life of me fathom where the ambiguity in this situation comes from.

[EFerrari]

66. Not ambiguity, stage life. Stage life is not real life.

No, you don't know this guy.

[NorthernSpy]

53. someone tells him he's not funny, so he thinks they deserve to be lynched...

... and you can't tell from his extended rant about sodomy and murder as a way to deal with mouthy black guys whether Richards might be a racist or not?


LOL. Figures.

[EFerrari]

67. No, you don't know this guy from his rant at a heckler to whom

he directed the language that would be the most offensive to that person. If you had been in that chair, he would have used other offensive language. You still wouldn't know him.

[NorthernSpy]

69. oh, of course not. Now, if he had argued for enforcing our immigration laws...

... then some here would immediately know him as a real, genuine racist. Whether he had mentioned race or not.

But Richards' response to a guy who talked out of turn and questioned his talent is to start raving about the good lynchin' time -- complete with sodomy with kitchen utensils for obstreperous black folk. And from that we cannot conclude that he is a racist, because we do not know him in the tender depths of his human soul...


Gawd. Whatever.

[EFerrari]

71. The heckler opened the can of worms, Richard took it nuclear.

It was the wrong thing to do and he's paying for it. But he probably would have done the same thing to whoever was sitting at that table and he'd have done it as brutally as possible and as personally as possible. There are only a handful of people who don't have obvious buttons even if they don't hand them to you the way these people did when they started heckling him in the way they did.

And you know, NorthernSpy, you don't actually have to mention the word "race" or allude to a "race" to be a bigot. Code works just fine -- such as using that old Republican standby "law and order" for segregation.

:hi:

[Zynx]

45. Hecklers are stupid, performers are held to higher standards.

[humbled_opinion]

62. No I think you would get dead. n/t

[silverojo]

40. After being called n*gger a few times

Even a saint of a black person can be forgiven for trying to put the shoe on the other foot. I'm not even black, and I'd have been calling him a lot worse than a "honky" or "cracker"....

Don't forget, these guys started to LEAVE, and Michael Richards still kept trying to argue with them. Clearly, he was the one who wanted to prolong the verbal fight.

Finally, EVERY stand-up comic has to put up with hecklers. If he's incapable of doing so, he needs to get off the stage.

[NorthernSpy]

54. someone called him a cracker AFTER he started spewing about lynching...

Searching awfully damn hard for that all-important grey area, aren't you?


:eyes:

[IndianaGreen]

15. Keith Olbermann showed a clip of the tirade

I was totally shocked by what I heard and saw, and I am a Lenny Bruce fan!

Richards should be ashamed of himself!

[Raine]

17. I saw it on there too

it was much much worse than I could ever have imagined. :-(

[bkcc]

55. I'm with you.

I expected to see something relatively tame that got blown out of proportion. The actual footage made my jaw drop. There's really no ambiguity on this one.

If he had just used a racial slur, it would have been really bad. The fact that he used the word over and over (not to mention his comments about hanging the men upside down) made it absolutely disgusting. There's no way he can explain this away.

If Richards' career wasn't dead before, this drove the final stake through its heart.

[Umbram]

19. I don't feel bad for hecklers...

or people that talk in movie theaters for anything that might occur to them.

That said, I think it's unfortunate that innocent bystanders had to watch
the crossfire.

[habitual]

22. having performed for over 10 years on the streets in NYC

i can tell you, there is a productive way and a destructive way to deal with hecklers.

Most newer performers wind up using the destructive way because they haven't learned to turn things around to their advantage yet. I don't know why Michaels went down the road he did, but it was very destructive and caused a huge loss of his audience, something you try to avoid at all costs.

Make fun of the heckler, sure, but in a way that isolates and embarrasses him/her, not insults and degrades them. You try to get the rest of the audience to be on your side not the hecklers... in this situation, he went down the wrong road and the audience sided with the hecklers, which is the worst thing and you wind up losing it, like he did.

[CabalPowered]

26. Productive and a lot more class!

:toast:

[Raine]

43. The hecklers deserved to be told off

to be told to shut up but hurling racial insults at them is repulsive.

[Judi Lynn]

44. From what I've heard from other comedians, hecklers go with the territory.

It's an ancient practice by now.

Richards is the only one who has ever made national news in not being willing to control himself when it happens.

Maturity happens much later for some people, and never for many others.

[NorthernSpy]

57. I hope Richards is heckled mightily from now on...

And for that good old-fashioned moral reason:

He deserves it.

[Ethelk2044]

25. Micheal deserves what he gets

Anyone working in the Public should know better than saying
racial epithets.   It only shows how much of a narrow mind he
has.   I am glad he is no longer allowed to perform there.  It
should hurt is $$$.  I hope his agent has a hard time to place
him in jobs in the future.  People like that does not have a
place in the public.

[Judi Lynn]

31. According to something a man who was there said on CNN, the racial

slams started before the ones people are seeing on clips. He said Michael Richards told the heckler something to the effect, and I don't recall precisely, "I'm rich. I can have the police arrest (or follow, or whatever other word it was) you."

That was offered earlier than the clips showing him shrieking hoarsely at the balcony.

I would throw everything I could remember at him if he dared speak that way to me. What he got back from the man in the audience after he went for the filthy, unforgiveable slurs isn't NEARLY bad enough.

The very idea anyone would dare try to claim what the heckler answered AFTER the filth errupted was anywhere in the same league, or carrying the same filthy impact, is diseased, and should have his keyboard incorporated in his lower digestive area.

[Nevernose]

37. Mostly it just wasn't funny. Otherwise, all would be forgiven...

He was trying to be funny. In my opinion, at least. It just didn't have that feel. His crime, ultimately, wasn't being racist, but being unfunny. If he'd been funny in his "racist" rejoinder, the "racism" would have been overlooked. I truly believe that he was trying to shock an audience into laughter (racism being one of the few untouchables left) and into joining him in mocking the hecklers. Shock/nervous laughter just isn't the same as genuine laughter.

Of course, I didn't particularly like Seinfeld, and didn't think the chacracter of Kramer was funny, either, so maybe my comedy gauge isn't what it should be.

[Azathoth]

46. Hecklers are jerks, but Richards was positively unhinged

He looked like he was one step away from a psychotic breakdown. If his performance wasn't drug-induced, I'd say he better find him self a psychiatrist real quick.

[robcon]

47. Richards' defense: he was enraged.

Is this a new version of the Mel Gibson defense... whose antisemitic tirade was caused by drunkenness.

Richards says he was enraged... does that make one a racist, or does it reveal one as a racist? I'd say the latter.

[kskiska]

51. How come Ann Coulter never has to apologize?

It seems that every other day, someone (rightly or wrongly) is forced to apologize for remarks they have made. Somehow there's never an outcry for Ann and her friends to apologize for anything.

[dogfacedboy]

52. That's because the Right-Wing Barbie Slut Army

can do and say what they please. Dontcha know? What Coulter does is "harmless comedy".

[bkcc]

56. Did anyone see the apology?

Apparently, Seinfeld lobbied "The Late Show" to get Michael Richards on the air. He's expressing support for his friend, but I can't help but think that Jerry is just trying to minimize damage and save the sales on the Seinfeld season 7 DVD.

[Kerrytravelers]

59. Mr. kt and I were thinking the same thing.

Even though the creators and actors on Seinfeld are set for life, they can still earn money on the DVDs, and rightfully so. It really sucks that the stupidity of one will now damage the others, but it's hard to see him now on the tv and not think about how horrible he is and what a disgusting thing he did.

And, on a side note, a college friend's mother was a interior designer at a very upscale Los Angeles company. Michael Richards came to their showroom and apparently was a real ass to one of the designers. So, knowing that he treats people like they're less than him, I was shocked at the video, but at the same time, not terribly surprised.

[NorthernSpy]

61. oh, I'm sure a LOT of people who've had to deal with him couldn't be more thrilled...

... if he gets his comeuppance now.

Like someone said, be nice to the people meet on your way up; you'll be seeing them again on the way back down.

[bkcc]

64. I'm sure Seinfeld and Larry David are super pissed.

And I agree with you about the impact of this incident.

It has certainly put a damper on my enjoyment of "Seinfeld." It's one of my all-time favorite shows, but I don't know if I'll be able to look at it in quite the same way again.

[President Kerry]

63. I never saw footage of the tirade. Just reading it is bad enough.

Richards has been one of my favorite comedians, not just for Seinfeld, but for some of the smaller roles too (Trial and Error). And I think he's a very capable actor and comedian, who can make you laugh the way few can, not just with one-liners but with his demeanor.

Somebody already said it upthread - if this were genuinely him, there is no way he could be hiding it all this time, and get as far as he did. Surely he's worked with a number of black people, and entertained a large African American audience for all these years, all the while keeping his racist feelings hidden away? I don't think that's possible. He's never had a problem with the African-American community I'm aware of, correct me if i'm wrong. I think there are some areas/industries, where a true bigot can't make it, and stand-up comedy is one of them. I can't rationalize this ugliness - I can only wonder that he's got a psychiatric problem he needs to deal with. I think he needs to PUBLICLY apologize, and see a shrink. His career is probably ruined, and it's a shame.

[robcon]

70. Closet racists are legion, IMO

I disagree strongly with the statement: "Surely he's worked with a number of black people, and entertained a large African American audience for all these years, all the while keeping his racist feelings hidden away? I don't think that's possible. "

I have heard closet racists all my life, who, when provoked, spew their hate. That's what Richards is, IMO: a closet racist.

[mcg]

72. Trent Lott gives Richards a pep talk

[Karenina]

73. This is EXACTLY the point Jesse Jackson

made in his interview with Richards! It was PRICELESS!! :rofl:

It also should be pointed out that Richards went "nukular" on a Jewish woman some time back. To deal with the fall-out his publicist elected to promote the perception that Richards is Jewish.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2633700

But as this tempest in a teapot dies down with the 3 day news cycle, I'm disappointed that we have been as yet unable get to the basics. America is BOMBARDED daily with hate speech spewed on the airwaves. The nation has been thoroughly poisoned by it...

[mcg]

74. Yes, there worse hate speech going on than Richard's outbusts,

as bad as they were (I'm not sticking up for Richards, at least he's trying to apologize though).
Coulter, Limbaugh and their ilk spew premeditated serial hate speech, they advocate violence, and don't even try to apologize for it. Then there are groups like the CCC (the uptown KKK) who deliver slightly cleaned up bigotry. It's even worse when people are cutesy about it, when they talk in code and then say "don't call me a racist".
There's also racist talk by minorities towards whites, that's not good either.