Oh, Michael Richards . . .
Did anyone see Michael Richards’ apology on David Letterman last night? He appeared via satellite during the interview with Jerry Seinfeld — who’s probably upset that his untimely outburst might have cost him DVD sales for his new release.
The interview was borderline ridiculous. Basically he made it seem like his racist tirade was a result of his body being possessed by a KKK member. He said that he, himself, didn’t understand where it came from and actually said, incredulously: “The thing is, I’m not a racist!” As though he had never uttered those words in the past, and as though those thoughts weren’t top of mind when he began his diatribe.
The kicker was that he referred to black people as Afro-Americans. AFRO-Americans? I don’t think I’ve heard that term since the late seventies.
Then he went on to espouse about how this brand of crap — or should I say HIS brand of crap — shouldn’t be tolerated, and that the patrons of the comedy club had every right to go to the press. I wonder who his publicist is? What a fantastic display of reverse psychology!
I think he’s missing the point. In fact, I think a LOT of people are missing the point here. The problem isn’t that he used the N word. Somehow this debate has turned into a ridiculous exercise in why black people can say the word, while others risk getting a beat-down. That’s really not the point. The point is that his display was an attack. It wasn’t a ’slip,’ as he would have us believe. I have more of a problem that the first place he went, when being heckled by two black guys, was to talk about lynching, and liberally using the N word in derogatory manner — similar to the way that the N word was used when invented during the times of slavery — as the biggest possible insult against black people. I have a problem that this little ’slip’ so easily emanated from his mouth, and went on for about three minutes.
I don’t really want to devote any more blogging time to this. I only know that I won’t be purchasing any Seinfeld paraphernalia, or anything else that would benefit the bottom line of Michael Richards.
Thanks for listening!
