How To Flush Your Moral Authority Down the Toilet
Two men who claim they were among those to whom Michael Richards directed his racist invective during his near-psychotic breakdown at West Hollywood’s Laugh Factory have hired a lawyer. And guess what — they say an apology won’t be enough to assuage the wounds. They want money.
There’s no excuse for what Richards did. It was horrible. Obscene, even. He should be roundly condemned — and he has been. He should pay a penalty — and he is: his reputation is in tatters, and his career may well be ruined. But that doesn’t mean anyone who bore the brunt of that invective is owed any money. As horrible and outrageous as Richards’ flip-out was, it was well within the bounds of the First Amendment.
African Americans have every right to be outraged and to demand apologies from Richards. But these two men who are demanding money from Richards have abandoned the moral high ground, and as far as I’m concerned they too deserve disapprobation for their attempt at profiteering.
November 25th, 2006 at 4:58 am
I was talking to a friend of mine at work this morning, and he wasn’t offended as a black man. He thought like I did, Richards was trying to take a page out of the Kaufmann book of comedy, which is ironic if true considering the reaction Richards had when Andy Kaufman was on Fridays. Or maybe he was just really cheesed off. Don’t know, don’t care. The only thing that bothers me about it is the apparent double standard. Put a black performer on that stage with white people in the audience, you think anyone would seriously be thinking of cash award? I hope this thing gets laughed out of court.
November 25th, 2006 at 6:42 am
Geez, I’ve long had a problem with the double standard. It always bugs me when people declare two or three sets of rules for words, events, comedy or other things based on skin color, religion or nationality. I’m an equal opportunity offender, comedian and debater.
As for Richards….
He lost it that night and he’ll lose more in the years to come from it. Kind of sad because he was great stand up years before the show about nothing came along and, as someone who was never a fan of that show, I was really looking forward to him doing something else one day that was more in line with that period of his life. Doubt I’ll ever see it now.
As to the guys who want money for this, screw ‘em. They didn’t hear anything that night that they haven’t heard from someone around them before. I’ve heard far worse directed at me before and I’ve managed to survive quite well without money or anything else thrown my way.
Let ‘em eat cake.
November 25th, 2006 at 12:45 pm
According to Richards, he flew into “a rage,” pure and simple And while he tried to do some “Jiu Jitsu” to take that negative energy and turn it into something entertaining, he acknowledges that he failed. Probably because he couldn’t control the torrents of hate spewing out of his mouth.
I also have to admit I don’t buy the “double standard” argument in this instance. Context matters. We’re still far too close to the days of the Jim Crow south, “separate but equal,” lynchings, and all of that horror. Racial epithets directed at blacks carry with them the resonance of brutal oppression. Racial epithets directed at whites have far less sting, because blacks do not have the ability to truly oppress us in any meaningful way. Your friend may not have been offended, but I would bet that a significant number of black people were.
That said, anyone who wants money out of this is just being crass and has lost my sympathy.
November 25th, 2006 at 12:47 pm
Well, I’ve already articulated my feelings about the whole “double standard” argument, so I won’t reiterate them.
But, yeah, I saw some of Richards’ pre-Seinfeld stand-up and it was truly fresh and unique. Who knows? He may yet rehabilitate himself.
November 26th, 2006 at 2:56 am
I don’t doubt that a lot of blacks were offended. And when I was talking about the double standard, I was only talking about the possible cash coming out of the case, not what Richards said. What he said is pretty rough and he deserves to be called on it. I just don’t know that I think these guys should get paid for hearing it.
November 26th, 2006 at 7:12 am
I can see what you’re saying, Bill, but I’m not sure I completely agree.
If certain words and comments were made totally off limits for everybody, then I would agree. But that’s not what goes on. I have Jewish friends who would not take kindly to someone they didn’t know, or me for that matter, walking into a room and calling them kikes or brown shirts whether it was meant seriously or not. They would also not walk into a room themselves and and greet other Jewish friends by jokingly saying something like, “What’s up, kikes!!”
That’s not what happens with a number of “offensive” words or other things in the black community. They’re only offensive when the person hearing or seeing them decides that they are. And even then, the exact same thing that was deeply offense on Friday isn’t offensive on Saturday.
It’s not even always the obvious stuff that falls under this category. I tend to call people “boy” when joking them about my swiping their food (”Boy, you best be keeping a real close eye on them there ribs. They smell too damned good to not make a try for.”) or some such. I once had two black co-workers who spazzed over that and claimed that I was using a racially charged word since “boy” was what white slave masters would often call their black slaves. This was from two guys who would call people cracka and masta when they were being sarcastic and would call each other names that would have gotten me murdered on the streets.
That’s what I was talking about when I said that I’ve never been too fond of the double standard out there. I just find it a tad hypocritical that many people will use a word to death that they claim to find great offense in. A word either has power and meaning or it doesn’t. A word is either something that is not to be used in public places or it isn’t.
People can call me whatever they want. I don’t care. And I’ve been called things on the job that would make some sailors blush. I will also not use many words and names myself because I know what they mean and what they have meant. I’m not a hypocrite (in that respect). These guys likely are.
As for the legal action….
Richards deserves to be spanked over this, but this offense is worth exactly these guys’ admission price for that night, an apology and nothing more. Maybe less then that if they want to keep being twits about it.