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 ...
Rickles, like another comedian Jack Leonard, was from a time when people could take insults and go one with life. Those days are over apparently. Rickles used to make a point about insulting practically everyone in the audience. But everyone laughed. I think. I suppose some were offended but no one seems to have had their self-esteem eternally damaged by his taunts. But that was another era. A time when people could take jokes, tasteless or not, and go on with life.
Kramer will get suckered into believing that if he just sponsors this or that through Al's 501 (c)(3) .org, he'll make things okay for him. After he pays up, Al will lose Richards's phone number and forget his name.
Real justice would be for Kramer to stop apologizing. He has to know that after such a faux pas he ain't coming back. He should save his money for the retirement that will now be forced upon him instead of trying to buy his way out through the race whores and the lawyers.
Did the whites who were treated that way hire a lawyer and show up on TV a few days later demanding money? Did they get an apology on Letterman?
I couldn't care less what happens to Richards. As far as I know, he's a drug-addled Hollyweird lefty, but I don't think he owes anyone another apology or any money. He'll be punished by the media and the lack of future work. He should just go fade off the scene and keep his mouth and pocketbook zipped.
Agree 100%.
What's going on with that case? I heard about it about ten days ago on Larry Elder's show when I was down in Simi Valley for a day.
Any update on whether these vicious racists are going to be charged with a hate crime? How are the girls doing?
Well said.
Also well said.
LOL!
I think our military people should file a suit against Skerry for his insults. After all, he is a senator and votes on appropriations for our military. His attitude is a conflict of interest with the safety of our troops. :>
Well, it sure says a lot about black Americans.
Don't forget his calling Greeks "homos". Come to think of it, I don't recall any Greeks complaining about that.
Yes, they know that everyone on Seinfeld wound up as multimillionaires: I doubt there will be an attempt to extort money, though, as it would make Sharpton and/or Jackson look like the brazen shakedown artists they of course are.
Probably the worst downside to Richards' behavior is that it gives people like Sharpton a new lease on life, and they will always find things like this to latch onto.I'd be way more interested in hearing , say, Bill Cosby's reaction to it, or anyone else's for that matter.
It has been laughable and oh-so-predictable to see this Richards thing run the Mel Gibson course, where the dominant concern seemed to be to get an answer to the question "Do you think Mel Gibson is an anti-Semite?" The Richards question of course is if Richards is indeed a racial bigot. I would like to propose the possibility that it doesn't matter who is an anti-Semite or an anti-black bigot: those concerns are legitimate for their agents, they themselves, and the audiences who have patronized these two, but there is no further significance for the workings of American culture whether they are or not. Personally, I think Richards has developed some form of Tourette's Syndrome. That's what his rant and the accompanying meltdown looked like to me.
He wouldn't have even had to have been a Republican. He just would have to have been white in order to descend into oblivion after what he said and did.
The only one who can force him to humiliate himself is he, himself. he shouldn't apologize anymore. Once was enough. If blacks don't like it, tough.
I don't get it either. H&C has him on, and so does O'Reilly. Disgusting. I change the channel. I won't watch him. I just switch to Animal Planet when I see him on Fox. Same for Jesse.
Exactly what I was thinking.
Sharpton is a shakedown artist just like Jackson.
I will give him this, however: Unlike Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton is extremely entertaining.
I'd like to see him and Cedric go at it!!!
"Jesse Jackson... *UCK Jesse Jackson"!
LLS
Whyo is this racist Sharpton to refuse an apology from anyone when he never apologized for anything???
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