Do you think Kramer (from Seinfeld) is racist?

ORIGINAL: labcrab

  I feel the same way about Mel Gibson.. 

 
I do too. My friend also referred to that incident and said, "Well, look at Mel Gibson. People forgave him because they know he's not a racist. He was drunk."
 
Are you kidding me? People forgave Mel because of who he is. He's a movie star, Kramer is a tv has been. Mel was seen as a person of Christ and some refuse to believe that he's just as anti-semitic as his father. Or those that forgave him or disregarded his comments are those that would or have said the same things themselves.
 
My friend also thinks there's a difference between people who just think those kinds of thoughts in their head and those who actually speak them. I'm sorry. I don't care if you just think the thoughts to yourself or if you speak them outloud. Just because you may keep your mouth shut and don't say those things outloud does not make you any better than the person who did.

I think what he said was unforgivable. It was just horrible to listen to him go on and on like that.
 
And this was his apology on the Late Show with David Letterman. It's REALLY weak, if you ask me...
 
From his appearance on The Late Show, Monday night.
David Letterman: "Why don't you explain exactly what happened for the folks who may not know."
Michael Richards: "I [linkhttp://perezhilton.com/topics/icky_icky_poo/the_new_mel_gibson_20061120.php]lost my temper on stage[/link]. I was at a comedy club trying to do my act and I got heckled and I took it badly and went into a rage and said some pretty nasty things to some Afro-Americans, a lot of trash talk, and uh..."
Letterman: "And you were actually being heckled or were they just talking and disturbing the act?"
Richards: "That was going on too."

________
Richards: "...You know, I'm really busted up over this and I'm very, very sorry to those people in the audience, the blacks, the Hispanics, whites - everyone that was there that took the brunt of that anger and hate and rage and how it came through, and I'm concerned about more hate and more rage and more anger coming through, not just towards me but towards a black/white conflict. There's a great deal of disturbance in this country and how black feel about what happened in Katrina, and, you know, many of the comics, many of performers are in Las Vegas and New Orleans trying to raise money for what happened there, and for this to happen, for me to be in a comedy club and flip out and say this crap, you know, I'm deeply, deeply sorry. And I'll get to the force field of this hostility, why it's there, why the rage is in any of us, why the trash takes place, whether or not it's between me and a couple of hecklers in the audience or between this country and another nation, the rage - "
Letterman: "But Michael, let me interrupt here for a second and ask a question about had the people doing the heckling or the people who were not paying attention, had they been white or Caucasian or any other race, what would have been the nature of your response then?"
Richards: "It may have happened. It may have happened. You know, I'm a performer. I push the envelope, I work in a very uncontrolled manner onstage. I do a lot of free association, it's spontaneous, I go into character.  I don't know, in view of the situation and the act going where it was going, I don't know, the rage did go all over the place. It went to everybody in the room. But you can't - you know it's, I don't - I know people could, blacks could feel - I'm not a racist, that's what so insane about this, and yet it's said, it comes through, it fires out of me and even now in the passion that's here as I confront myself."

That's so disjointed and delusionalish. Makes me wonder about his mental health. Seriously.

In my view, it doesn't matter whether someone *is* or *isn't* a racist, if you do or saying something racist you've done something wrong, period. It's not as though "not being a racist" lets you off the hook when you use the N word. It's like saying, "I'm not a murderer, it's just that one time I got really angry and beat someone to death." Being racist is not like being short or tall or hairy or bald... it's a way of thinking that anyone can participate in if they choose to.

I he racist?
 
I say yes, no doubt, but on the other hand why is it that when a white person makes comments like that it is all over the news?
 
I know that Kanye West is as racist as they get(he is a rapper btw.), you hear nothing in the news about his remarks, and if you do it doesn't get blown up like that.
 
It's almost like the media is afraid to tackle someone like him. The thing about Kanye is he doesn't even retract any of his comments.

Actually I see Kanye all over Yahoo's front page after every single public tirade he makes...lol.

Actually I see Kanye all over Yahoo's front page after every single public tirade he makes...lol.

 
When it comes to Kanye only certain media even mentions it.
 
Do you see it on the 6 o'clock news at night?

ORIGINAL: jones

In my view, it doesn't matter whether someone *is* or *isn't* a racist, if you do or saying something racist you've done something wrong, period. It's not as though "not being a racist" lets you off the hook when you use the N word. It's like saying, "I'm not a murderer, it's just that one time I got really angry and beat someone to death." Being racist is not like being short or tall or hairy or bald... it's a way of thinking that anyone can participate in if they choose to.

 
I completely agree.

The thing about Kanye is he doesn't even retract any of his comments.

Why should he retract them if he means them? KKK members and skinheads certainly don't retract statements and beliefs they have just because people are offended. Both of the aforementioned are scum in my book...but they are scum that firmly believes what they say, it is their own reality.
 
Their feelings are out there for people to see and be aware of and the public need never wonder "does he think less of me because I am xxxxx race?" the answer is there...yes, they do. IMO I'd rather KNOW then be taken unwares and hurt deeply by someone heretofor unknown to be racist. But that's just me.
 
It's for us to pity people like them...for leading lives so deluded and full of hatred for people they don't even know.

The thing at the music event? sure I did indeed see it on the news, lol. At 6 and at 10pm actually.

Why should he retract them if he means them? KKK members and skinheads certainly don't retract statements and beliefs they have just because people are offended. Both of the aforementioned are scum in my book...but they are scum that firmly believes what they say, it is their own reality.

Their feelings are out there for people to see and be aware of and the public need never wonder "does he think less of me because I am xxxxx race?" the answer is there...yes, they do. IMO I'd rather KNOW then be taken unwares and hurt deeply by someone heretofor unknown to be racist. But that's just me.

It's for us to pity people like them...for leading lives so deluded and full of hatred for people they don't even know.

 
I agree, but I feel that Kanye is more dangerous with his comments, millions of kids, teenagers, and young adults look up to him.

Crazy Farakhan used to make our news in California on a regular basis...and whenever the Dallas city council has an anti anybody moment or slip of the tongue (gosh they have those way too often BTW) it's all over the news...be the speaker white, black, hispanic, anything....
 
I don't thnk I have ever heard a single Kayne West song...I don't know if he is a rapper, singer or what...but I do know...because of the news...how he feels about Bush and white people in general. Makes me glad I don't know him better lol!

ORIGINAL: rwbeagles

Crazy Farakhan used to make our news in California on a regular basis...and whenever the Dallas city council has an anti anybody moment or slip of the tongue (gosh they have those way too often BTW) it's all over the news...be the speaker white, black, hispanic, anything....
 
I don't thnk I have ever heard a single Kayne West song...I don't know if he is a rapper, singer or what...but I do know...because of the news...how he feels about Bush and white people in general. Makes me glad I don't know him better lol!

 
Same here. I didn't know who he was either until I started seeing him on the news, Entertainment Tonight, the magazines, the paper, Yahoo and not for his  music either. It was always because of his comments or his outburts at not winning an award.

Re: the david letterman show. I heard on the radio that Seinfeld told him he had to appologize because they have some new DVD of Seinfeld comming out.
 
People are ignorant and mean. A person's actions should be what judges them not the color of their skin or what country they are from.
 
I am sure this will be the end of his career, but I doubt he learned anything from this.
 
As mentioned before weither or not a person says something it is what they think that matters. Clearly he is a racist and he was funny on Seinfeld but good riddance.
 
No comment like that should be tolerated. Weither the person who said it is black, white, yellow or green. Hatred is hatred. Discrimination is discrimination.

JMHO... at least he's putting himself out there for the public drubbing he deserves.

Once I worked with some folks who were quite racist, but very PC and on the downlow about it. The way they evaded responsibility for their beliefs by basically speaking in code **even though they were making racist decisions every day that really made a huge impact on my black co-workers** just made me sick.

The only thing that made me more sick was the fact that my colleagues suffered more than I did because I am very very white and they were not.

Whatever he meant by the "I'm not racist" excuse... if he's willing to let all this filth out of his mouth (and the filth is out there--we are all soaking in it, you know?) then at least to some tiny degree he is taking responsibility for the collective madness of racism.

I mean this relative to someone who is willing to create and reinforce a racist work environment while at the same time championing their ability to bring diversity to the workplace. I don't know what to make of that outburst, but at least it came out of his mouth. In this careful day and age, when black men can call themselves N_ all day and no-one else would dare, and yet the unemployment rate for black men in the neighborhood I currently work in is like 75%... that does mean something.

I guess what I mean is that racism is real, and it affects everybody, and I think there is something much more sinister in what is not said than there is in what gets said.