Posted on 11/22/2006 3:57:53 PM PST by LouAvul
NEW YORK (CNN) -- The Rev. Al Sharpton said Wednesday he refused to accept an apology from actor Michael Richards, who spouted a racist rant at a comedy club last week.
But Sharpton said he did agree to meet with Richards to try to start a process to address racism in America.
"I [told Richards] you need to sit down and deal with this," Sharpton told CNN. "This is not about accepting an apology, this is about starting a process to really deal with the continual problem of racism in this country." (Watch Richards' meltdown on stage -- 1:39 )
Sharpton said he got the call from Richards earlier Wednesday.
"I think that what he did was so injurious that he has to sit down with a group and decide how he tries to ... deal with healing the obvious problem he's got in his own mind and his own heart, because it couldn't come out of you if it wasn't in you," Sharpton said.
The incident took place Friday night at the Laugh Factory in Los Angeles, California.
In a video clip posted on the celebrity gossip Web site TMZ.com, obtained from an audience member, Richards unleashed a nearly three-minute tirade punctuated by racial slurs at a group of African-American hecklers.
In it, he made a reference to lynching and added shortly before walking offstage, "That's what happens when you interrupt a white man."
TMZ.com is a subsidiary of Time Warner, as is CNN.
Richards apologized Monday on CBS's "Late Show" with David Letterman, saying he is not a racist.
"I was at a comedy club trying to do my act and I got heckled, and I took it badly and went into a rage," said Richards, who appeared on the show via satellite.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
The last thing on my mind was John Rocker. I know he got a raw deal. I surmised if he could still produce winning pitches it would die down. It seems that injuries may have contributed to his demise from major league baseball. The vile attitude of fans hurt badly also.
Well, thanks for bring up John. I went to Wikipedia. I got an update. I was advised as to his website. He is on a promotion of "speak English" campaign.
He is posed with a T shirt to this effect. With him is a lady 'ahem of colour. What a knockout. I now shed no tears for John.
I have a better idea, lynch Al
What Richards should do first thing when he sits down with Sharpton is say, "The thing is, I was totally stressed out because my career's in the toilet and I'm flat broke."
That'll guarantee him a short meeting, and Sharpton will drop the thing like a warm pile of dog poop.
And how does this LIAR credibly DISMISS another human being's apology?
I believe it originated as an anti-semetic slur, a reference to matzoh crackers. Thus, in addition to the anti-semetic racial hatred involved it bears the moral equivalence of referring to blacks through use of a comment about fried chicken or watermelon.
I also heard Richards' apology, and from the pauses in his speach I got the impression that he was simply choosing his words with extreme caution. He intended that the sincerity of his apology would be unquesitonable. He was tyring to make it perfectly clear that it was NOT supposed to be comedy. Hollywood audiences are so tasteless, though, that they laughed anyway.
I would have LOVED to see Richards apologize by reading word-for-word one of Jon Carry's wussy-snobby non-apologies after the 'US servicemen are stupid' comment - preferrably the very first one.
Yeah, Al.
One hack comedian goes off and it's now his responsibility
to deal with the continual problem of racism in this country?
OK...
SNL seemed to start the trend of obnoxious speech as funny. Now there is almost nothing left to shock people. Even the conservative talk shows joke about bestiality and Brittney sex tapes.
All this strikes me as examples of not knowing what humor is, not having enough intelligence to be funny, not rising above the maturity level of a 12 year-old boy.
I don't believe in apologizing over and over and over again. Apologies mean nothing to some people, so there's no point lowering one's dignity begging for forgiveness. If after a sincere apology, there are still angry individuals unwilling to forgive, it speaks more of their mean spirits than the guy who made a mistake and was big enough to try and make amends by saying he is sorry.
Sharpton is a racist and antisemitic individual, and I've never heard him apologizing for his vicious tirades and his verbal attacks against Jewish business in Harlem. Don't ever forget that as a result of Sharpton and his cronies bigoted and venomous remarks, tensions were raised and eight people were killed at Freddy's.
Let's refresh our memories...
Excerpt:
On Friday, December 8, at 10:12 a.m., Roland James Smith, Jr., 51, a Harlem resident with a criminal record going back 30 years, walked into Freddy's Fashion Mart, a Jewish-owned clothing store at 272 West 125th Street, pulled out a gun, ordered all the black customers to leave, spilled paint thinner on several bins of clothing and set them on fire -- a fire that resulted in killing 8 people including Smith.Sharpton fueled the flames of hate and antisemitism and he never once apologized, much less took responsibility for his behavior. When hate crimes are committed by blacks against whites, Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, or any other black leader are nowhere to be found, and the word "apology" doesn't seem to exist in their vocabulary.Smith had been part of a group of picketers, led by Al Sharpton , head of the National Action Network and Morris Powell , leader of the 125th Street Vendor's Association, who had been protesting the eviction of Sikhulu Shange, owner of the Record Shack who was subletting from Fred Harari, the Jewish owner of Freddy's.
The picketing, which had gone on for months, had led Harari to seek relief with the State Supreme Court. In papers filed just one day before the fire, he said, "Recently, the protesters have made motions of striking a match and throwing it on outside clothing displays or in the doorway of the store." An affidavit by Kareem Brunner, a black security guard killed in the blaze, said that he had been called a "cracker lover" and "would get mine as a traitor [to the black race]." Brunner, was the only black that Smith did not order out of the store before setting it afire.
Besides Smith and Brunner, all the other victims of the fire were Hispanic and Guyanese. Store manager, Steve Brodsky, described how a particularly vicious demonstrator called Shabazz would force his way into the store, pushing Brodsky aside and shout "I will be back to burn the Jew store down -- burn, burn, burn." It has been reported that there is evidence that Shabazz worked for Mr. Shange.
When the tragedy occurred, Al Sharpton denied all responsibility and said "People are trying to put me in the middle of this. I only came one time. I met with the people from the church. ... I was only there a matter of minutes. I was not the leader of this. I was only in support of Shange."
However, the Jewish Action Alliance released copies of a tape containing speeches broadcast on black radio stations WWRL, WLIB and KISS attacking Freddy's, made by Sharpton and others during rallies going back to August 19, 1995. The tape was presented by Beth Gilinsky to the police and to the media, including the Jewish Post. Short excerpts from these tapes were printed in the New York Times, New York Post and Daily News. (This reporter has transcribed the complete tape. All the relevant material on it has been reproduced on page 4.)
The transcript contains demagogic language: Fred Harari is called a "cracker" by Mr. Powell and a "white interloper" by Rev. Sharpton. It contains threats: Mr. Powell says of Fred Harari, "We gonna see that this cracker suffer." Mr. Shange says he "had to tell the lawyer for Freddy, ... Jeff Sutton, that you are tampering with something which you will be so sorry, that you open up a can of worms which you can never close any more." link
Could this possibly have been a set-up by TMZ? They were a non-existent company a short time ago; now suddenly they are everywhere. And positioning themselves very obviously. Have you ever seen the TMZ guy interviewed, with the TMZ logo carefully positioned behind him?
I mean, why TMZ, why not Entertainment Tonight or... or... I can't think of one other show since I don't watch any of them. It's just odd that TMZ would be the one to get the video.
What Sharpton thinks is news?
Good ones!
I wuz right of course.LOL
I like your tagline. But I think it should be "Smart Ladies for the American People." This way, the acronym would "SLAP" lazy conservative voters off their butts and into the polling place.
Oh, I remember that as well. Sharpton would've been finished looong time ago had he been a Republican.
No, you missed the actual apology from Richards. It was incoherent, but there was a part where he was talking about the devastation of Hurrican Katrina and Bush's response.
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