Good thoughts. The whole thing is so weird. I saw Richards on Letterman the other night, and he was obviously very upset about the whole thing. He seemed not to know where it even came from. He seemed . . . well, crazy.
I saw it too Chris... well, the taped versions of it on You Tube. And you're right, he was certainly flummoxed by his own outburst but he did say one telling sign that stood out to me and that was when he said that he was "in character" and he was "free associating". Any one who is familiar with Michael Richards comedic works knows what he is capable of when left to his own creative devices: from Transylvania 65000, to Fridays on ABC, to UHF, to Seinfeld. And for any person to say that they have never went "too far" in certain circumstances... well, they are liars, plain and simple. Plus the fact that we have no idea what spurred him into his tirade. It would have taken the subject of race to have been brought up for "Free Association" of that magnitude to have taken place. So that, in itself, seems to indicate that it was the hecklers, themselves, who threw the first racially charged stone. They certainly didn't hold back at firing the word "Cracker" at him... and if that's not as racial as what he said... then there is a terrible bias going on in this country.
This in no way makes what he said right. Michael Richards is certainly responsible for his actions. {Although, he had said "does this shock you?" and "these are only words, words, words" which seems to indicate that he was making a point by saying the words and not actually calling the person those vulgarities.] Regardless, he should have dealt with the hecklers calmly and quietly early on and had them escorted out by the proper security and authority. Of course, this would most likely have spurred on more racially charged heckling and force him to end the show just as abruptly; thus still ruining the event for all of the polite patrons who paid their hard-earned money to see an entertaining show. But, Michael would not have lost his composure and be in the predicament he is in now. Still, he is doing the right thing by apologizing and CBS is being very gracious by rerunning it on Monday night.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2006-11-22 06:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-23 03:19 am (UTC)And you're right, he was certainly flummoxed by his own outburst but he did say one telling sign that stood out to me and that was when he said that he was "in character" and he was "free associating".
Any one who is familiar with Michael Richards comedic works knows what he is capable of when left to his own creative devices: from Transylvania 65000, to Fridays on ABC, to UHF, to Seinfeld.
And for any person to say that they have never went "too far" in certain circumstances... well, they are liars, plain and simple.
Plus the fact that we have no idea what spurred him into his tirade.
It would have taken the subject of race to have been brought up for "Free Association" of that magnitude to have taken place.
So that, in itself, seems to indicate that it was the hecklers, themselves, who threw the first racially charged stone.
They certainly didn't hold back at firing the word "Cracker" at him... and if that's not as racial as what he said... then there is a terrible bias going on in this country.
This in no way makes what he said right.
Michael Richards is certainly responsible for his actions.
{Although, he had said "does this shock you?" and "these are only words, words, words" which seems to indicate that he was making a point by saying the words and not actually calling the person those vulgarities.]
Regardless, he should have dealt with the hecklers calmly and quietly early on and had them escorted out by the proper security and authority.
Of course, this would most likely have spurred on more racially charged heckling and force him to end the show just as abruptly; thus still ruining the event for all of the polite patrons who paid their hard-earned money to see an entertaining show.
But, Michael would not have lost his composure and be in the predicament he is in now.
Still, he is doing the right thing by apologizing and CBS is being very gracious by rerunning it on Monday night.