Kramer pipes up with the n-word (Seinfeld's Kramer gone wild)

Former Seinfeld star Michael Richards stunned a comedy club audience, shouting racial insults at people who made fun of him during his performance, it was reported.

The 57-year-old actor-comedian, best known for playing Jerry Seinfeld's eccentric neighbour Kramer on the hit TV show, was performing at the Laugh Factory in Los Angeles on Friday night when he started the insults, according to video posted on entertainment website TMZ.com.

The tirade apparently began after two black audience members started shouting at him that he wasn't funny.

Richards answered: "Shut up! Fifty years ago we'd have you upside down with a f--king fork up your arse."

"You can talk, you can talk, you're brave now mother-f--ker. Throw his arse out. He's a nigger!" Richards shouted before repeating the racial insult over and over again.

An audience member heckled back: "That was uncalled for, you f--king cracker-ass motherf--ker."

While there was some audible chuckling in the audience, someone could be heard gasping, "Oh my God."

Another audience member is heard to call out: "It's not funny. That's why you're a reject, never had no shows, never had no movies. 'Seinfeld,' that's it."

He refused to comment on-camera when reached by CNN, but the news network reported that he said off-camera he felt sorry for what had happened and had made amends.

Former co-star Jerry Seinfeld issued a statement saying he was "sick over this".

"I'm sure Michael is also sick over this horrible, horrible mistake. It is so extremely offensive. I feel terrible for all the people who have been hurt," Seinfeld said.

Comic Paul Rodriguez, who was at the club, said he thought Richards' remarks crossed the line.

"Once the word comes out of your mouth and you don't happen to be African-American, then you have a whole lot of explaining," he said.

"Freedom of speech has its limitations and I think Michael Richards found those limitations."

Comedian George Lopez told Los Angeles television station KTLA that he thought Richards' lack of stand-up experience may have been a factor.

"The question is you have an actor who is trying to be a comedian who doesn't know what to do when an audience is disruptive," Lopez said.

"He's an actor whose show has been off the air, he shouldn't ever be on a stand-up gig."

Thank you for your comment. I have one other point, given how many people want to excuse Richards because some blacks use the word: How hard is it for people to understand that one word can have two meanings, and that the meaning of a word can be different depending on who says it?? People here are literate, most of them educated, and I have usually been impressed with their intelligence. So this should not be a difficult concept. Hopefully, those who have been actively posting their excuses for Richards are a small minority. Hopefully.

For example: You are a sergeant on a battlefield. You say to your men "fire away". Your men start shooting at the enemy.

Now, you are a press secretary at a briefing. You look out at the audience and say to them "fire away". Does a guy jump up from the audience and start shooting a gun?

When a black person uses the n word in conversation with another black, it can mean something like "homey" to a gangster, or "dude" to a surfer. It is a sign that both share a common bond, and are familiar with one another. (Cursing has the same "bonding" effect, it sends a sign of familiarity.) When they use it as an epithat, which happens sometimes, it would be the equivalent of a white person using the phrase "white trash". Example: "That stupid N did X." It's not appropriate, and most blacks would not want people to talk like this, but it doesn't carry the meaning that it would if a white person said it. It would be more like a middle class Italian from Long Island called a Brooklyn Italian a "stupid guinea". Have someone say something derogatory about "guineas" to an audience that includes Italians, though, and both of them would be pissed.

Getting back to the point, when a white person reduces an argument with a black to race, and calls a black person a N (in anger), the meaning of the word is different. When used in that way, the word means, "subhuman fit only for slavery and subjugation". It also is used to reassert power over the person to whom it is directed, which is exactly how Richards used it. "Why you dirty N! How dare you question me! Don't you know we used to string you up?" It is a word that sends a signal that the black should know his place, and that his position in society is precarious.

Now, a white person who hears a lot of hip hop may get confused, and use the N word in a slang fashion, walking up to a friend and saying "hey, my N, wassup!". The problem is, the black person doesn't like hearing it used by a white person, even in a non-racist sense, because they hear it in the racist sense when it comes from a white person, and even if they can tell it is used innocently, say by a friend, they still don't like it. They generally don't want whites to become comfortable using the word.

Another point to make is that we often feel free to criticize our family or friends privately, but don't want others to do it publicly. If a non-family member says something about a close relative, you might punch them in the nose, even if it is true. Thus it is with use of the word by blacks when they use the N word in a derogatory, instead of familiar, sense. They feel it is ok to say of another "stupid N" because they are not denigrating themselves or their race, just calling someone trash, when they use the word. However, when a white says the same thing about the same person, it would be a comment by the white about a group to which he does not belong, and it would anger members of that group.

One word, different meanings. We have lots of those in that crazy language we know as English.

"Take for instance the vile black racist "Ice Cube" who was part of the racist anti-white rap group "Public Enemy" who used to rap about killing all white people, killing white devils, killing white crackers. For all of the hate that this racist has spewed, he has been rewarded with a lucrative career in Hollywood working for and with the "white devils" that he wants to kill." Alright, I didn't want to comment on this but it's starting to make my head hurt. First off, Ice Cube (formerly NWA, who frankly deserves far more of your ire than Public Enemy) wasn't a member of Public Enemy--that was Chuck D you're thinking of, who doesn't have a Hollywood career. Ice Cube did make one album with the Bomb Squad (P.E.'s production team), but other than that they're not affiliated. Second, though P.E. did support Farrakhan and some other black radicals, they did not rap about "killing all white people." As a matter of fact, despite their Afrocentric message they have a large number of white fans (including me, I suppose, even though their message is mostly lost on me) and they collaborated with Anthrax (thrash metal-playing white dudes) for "Bring Tha Noize." One member, Professor Griff, was thrown out of the group for his apparent anti-Semitism after "Fear of A Black Planet" was released. Third, I don't remember Ice Cube saying anything about killing white people either. Sure, his lyrics had some other unsavory traits common to the genre (misogyny, ghetto violence, crime etc.) but killing white people just because? No. Lastly, Ice-"T" is responsible for the track "Cop Killer" which is far more offensive and deplorable than anything the above two groups have come out with. As for Michael Richards, his behavior was unseemly (unintentionally funny, but still unseemly). Getting angry at hecklers is one thing, but spewing the "n" word at them was just unacceptable, and it's surprising that someone who had a long history in standup comedy would be that dense. His apology came off completely half-assed and sniveling as well. Shades of Mel Gibson. Hopefully this will be the final nail in this annoying has-been's coffin and that the rest of "Seinfeld"'s cast shares the same fate (I hated that show).

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