I watch the show most every night and even at its weakest, it provides me with a laugh or two before I go to bed. And Kramer is just the best, most wonderfully ridiculous character. Michael Richards made him glorious.

Now?

This is just so disturbing. So sad. Disappointing. Ugh...

Has anyone stopped to consider that -while, yes, his tirade is shocking and insulting - it was largely a bungled attempt at improv humor by a man of limited talent?

In the age of Chappelle, Mencia, Wondershowzen, Borat et al, I imagine this idiot thought he'd lambaste his hecklers with some edgy racial humor then got in over his head and didn't have a punchline to pull him out because- well, he sucks at stand up.

He shit the bed, now he has to lie in it, but I'm not so sure the guy's more racist than he is stupid.

When you see him now do you think to yourself, "Racist" or "Fucking retard"?

the guy was just going for the jugular. he was trying to hurt his hecklers (when he should have been trying to be funny). he's way too emotional for standup. he's almost certainly not racist.

I heard before this even happened from a few comics that had done shows with Michael recently that he was doing a "weird, confrontational performance art-thing" for an act. All this seems in line with some sort of post-post-post-post kind of take on a comic's reaction to a heckler. Popopopomo isn't something a public figure can tackle easily, however, especially with regards to race.

Did someone put something in the water? I have to ask because I don't remember a time when so many have lost it completely in such a short period of time. The crap coming out of peoples mouths in the last year is simply amazing. It's like some bad Jim Carey movie where you have to say what's really on your mind (if you have a donut hole for a brain) and you can't help yourself.

Tell me about it.

So does this really mean people have racial hatred simmering under the polite surface and the only reason they don't actively express it because its taboo?

I'd like to think most people don't have these thoughts about people who are different than they are. Then again, maybe I live in Happy Land.

The editor of the Stranger carefully thinks through and,in print, advocates an agressive invasion of Iraq, a war crime. Waits till thousands die, with hundreds of thousands to come. Sort of says he was wrong. He's all is forgiven.

Comic once in his life does one over the top racist diatribe against some hecklers, with no history of racist thought or activity. Immediately realizes he fucked up and within a day starts working on making amends. Damned forever.

Which one is actually important? Whose mind is more likely to influence others with poor decisions in the future?

Just saying. For perspective.

Whoah, in reference to my #2 post. I just watched something on CNN where the dudes who heckled him were interviewed and they say there was even more said than what was seen on camera. They say he was was berating minority audience members unprovoked as they came in the auditoreum. "Oh look here, we've got a bunch of stupid mexicans and n!#%*&s coming in to watch the show tonight" or something to that effect. These guys are saying their heckling was a response to his comments.

Grain of salt however. They are suing Michael Richards. No bullshit.

As far as there being a surge in the amount of people revealing their repressed racism and harbored rage. I'd say it's probably not so much an upswing as it is the conjunction of widespread cameraphones and the visibility of Youtube enabling access to that huge spotlight.

"In the future everyone will have 15 minutes of privacy" so the saying goes.

New top ten list for End Of The Year Issues: Top 10 Meltdowns.

Still, I really do believe there are alot of people you know who are closeted racists and you'd never guess because the mere discussion fo racial issues is so touchy to Americans.

this whole thing was set up by richards, on purpose, to set up the upcoming Seinfeld reunion episode that will be released next year. In this episode, it turns out that Kramer has been employed by the Soup Nazi after the soup nazi had recently been beaten down by 50 cent after refusing him a bowl of soup. The entire seinfeld gang meets up at the soup shop and surprise surprise, who shows up? 50 cent along with his lawyer jackie chiles. Well, Kramer isn't having it and verbally assaults the two of them with racial slurs. Then Jerry goes "Kramer....what is the deeeeal with you racist attitude.

then, richards will apologize to the nation at the end of the show, and then the two hecklers from the comedy club will suddenly appear on the set and the whole case will have a group laugh, the audience will go AWWWWWWWW and Richards will be america's darling. Just wait and see. I have inside information, trust me

I have more insider info....the real reason Richards has, all of a sudden, acquired this hatred of black people is........He recently was contacted by Wilt Chamberlain telling him that he was the father who abandoned him when he was a baby. Richards then realized why he has the biggest afro that any white man has ever had and became furiously angry at his famous black father who left him. This anger boiled over and came out at that comedy club

Ok, "= P", so the rest of us didn't have the inside information. Now that you've got to the bottom of things, maybe we can all move on.

Watching Richards' "performance" is like watching a snuff film. Five minutes of a guy killing what's left of his career.

...And Mirror is spot-on. Danny-boy & his fascist gay ilk (CF) had their head up their asses 3.5 years ago. No matter how many corpses pile up, I doubt their consciousness will ever be raised that the only thing you can force onto a people is... force. Iraq was Disneyland under Hussein compared to what it is today, and if DS had any guts, he'd print that sentence in every ensuing edition of The Stranger until the US _truly_ stabilizes the country (i.e. for the rest of the publication's existence.)

Michael richards is allowed to use the N word because he is actually an albino african. His publicist covered this up throughout the seinfeld era to keep white people interested in him as a character. Only his large fluffy afro gives away his true racial identity. At first he was told to shave the fro but then Jerry seinfeld thought that it would add to the hilarity of the character Kramer and he was told to keep the fro.

Listen, i dont know how many feel the same, but this is me here, i know the guy didnt mean to say what he did, when someone is interupting you and making fun like that when you're doing your best, whether it be black, hispanic or white or any other race, you may have a little more self control, nevertheless, you would have said something of the sort, no matter how much you rant about "your not racist," you would've offended someone, so give the guy a break ok? He apologized on the letterman show in front of god-knows-how-many people and he was so torn about it he was trying to keep from crying, but

The guy didn't mean it, a lot can happen under that kind of preasure. What's so different with Eddie Murphy making comments about every race of women being bitches and making fun of white people? What about his chinese and japanese jokes? What makes it alright for him to say things like that? Because he's black? Black people are just as racist as white.

Get off the mans back. If a black makes a racist comment about a white person, so what. If a white makes a comment against a black, all hell breaks loose. Richards was right!

Touchy touchy subject.....
Has anyone stopped to think that both parties are at fault.
The hecklers should have just left quietly if they thought his style of humour wasn't funny and just chalked up the money they spent the same way you would if you paid for a movie you didn't like. Instead they decided to be smartasses and heckle and spoil it for everyone else. Real classy guys!! Michael should never have said the things he said. Believe it or not he could have said the same things but in a different way and it would have been funny as hell. But he hit below the belt and brought emotion into it, it got personal. He could have dissed the hecklers as some really good stand ups do and put them in their place it would have shut them up. Harry do you really think he was right in what he said?? I don't think so.... if you listen to white comics they make fun of blacks all the time but they do it in a funny non-emotional non-threatening way. Same goes for a comic like Eddie Murphy same white jokes but non threatening. Micheal clearly felt threatened and lashed out. How do we know these two hecklers didn't plan to go and heckle and get a rise out of Michael (it's no secret he's worth a ton of $$$$). My skin is not white and I can still look at this objectively.