Any other Seinfeld fans bummed out?

[OCcarnut]

I am a huge Seinfeld fan...my best friend, now deceased, and I always watched it together...so I always had fond memories when I watch Seinfeld..now I am bummed out by the latest events...hard to laugh at it now...

[deftonesfan867]

I saw the video and laughed....but i'm one sick indvidual.

[PurdueGuy]

...no idea what you're talking about... link to an article or something? little help?

[deftonesfan867]

http://www.tmz.com/2006/11/20/kramers-raci...caught-on-tape/

[turbo200]

i'm pretty bummed. i've thought it was a classic forever. it's one of the few shows i used to watch on TV, now I haven't seen it since before the incident. I don't think I'll be able to look at kramer the same as before.

[FAPTurbo]

I dunno... on one hand, the poor guy hasn't had much of a break since being, "Kramer," and on the other hand, what he said was very poor...

I gave Mel Gibson the benefit of the doubt, but that was because he was liquored up.

Still, the hecklers were being total assholes, and I'd be pretty pissed too.

[balthazar]

'Kramer' is a character in a fictional scenario, Micheal Richards is another person altogether. IMO, enjoying a fictionalized character in a sitcom would not be diminished because of what the actor who portrayed him said in another venue; the one has no bearing on the other.

[ocnblu]

Yeah, Seinfeld will always be a classic in my mind. My opinion of the show has not diminished atall because of this. Michael Richards' tirade is not connecting to the tv show for me, leaving the sitcom pristine.

I think he was trying to use the hecklers to improvise his act, but he crossed a line and totally went down in flames. The hecklers weren't helping their cause either. It was a bad scene all around, and it could have been overwith that night, if not for modern technology perpetuating it.

[CARBIZ]

I was never a huge Seinfeld fan. I always thought the character of Kramer was stupid, rather than funny. I don't blame the black dudes for heckling him: he never was funny.

I think that if we lowered our PC-shields, we will find that EVERYONE is a bad hair day away from becoming a screaming racist/bigot/mysogonist/homophobe/whatever. Think about the last time you were really, really angry and dealing with an a-hole. If that person has a visible "difference" (facial tick, bad skin, stutter, etc.), isn't that the one attribute you would naturally zero in on to get revenge or get them as angry as you?

We are all animals, if you scratch the surface just a little.

[Mr.Krinkle]

I was more distraught about how he looked and how he seemed to be handling/dealing with it afterwards. I dont believe hes a racist.

I dont think its right what he said because it wasnt funny the way it came out of his mouth.

[Flybrian]

I understand what he was trying to do - those assholes were being rude, so he was being rude back. But he didn't know how to handle himself and it showed. A better comedian could've said a similar thing and the response would've been applause. It just shows Michael Richards isn't that funny, something I thought for awhile.

[CARBIZ]

I just had a thought, in the same vein as Mel Gibson: I wonder if Michael has a drug problem. I am not trying to be funny, but I know people who are (or have) done a lot of cocaine and it can make them cranky and prone to explosive outbursts. If Michael had done a lot of coke the night before, or just before the show, he could be having a nasty "coke-over," which would explain the total lapse of sanity.

Just a thought......................

[And the fact that I bothered to write this shows you how damned slow today is in the Car Business!]

[Flybrian]

Heh...are the dealerships open today?

[Guest YellowJacket894]

I was never a huge Seinfeld fan.  I always thought the character of Kramer was stupid, rather than funny.  I don't blame the black dudes for heckling him: he  never was funny.

I hated Kramer and not once when I watched Seinfeld did I laugh about anything he did.

Ah, screw it. Let's all sit down and watch The King of Queens instead. Kevin James is a funny man.

[Flybrian]

Ah, screw it. Let's all sit down and watch The King of Queens instead. Kevin James is a funny man.

219153[/snapback]

King of Queens is awesome.

[ocnblu]

(Mr. Fly... CARBIZ is in Canada.) :AH-HA_wink:

[razoredge]

AH.......yea.........what exactly were the other guys saying ?...........it would have been funny had Richard Pryor made that act. I too think he blew it trying to improvise or was perhaps falling on his face anyhow and just snapped. So what ! Grow up !

I say big f@#kin deal, if you cant take it dont give it out. The only people that are supposed to tread lightly on racial or sexual issues are straight white guys. For everyone else its a free for all. Double standards all the way. From time to time I watch comedy central, the jokes always on the white guy, the cracker, the redneck, the white trash. Dont get sick and tired of it though, just sit there and take it cause if you show your fortitude, suddenly you are some kind of evil person. Only white dudes are racial, woman beating bigots.........right ?

Ross Perot was politicly destroyed because he said "you people". When Martin Luther King said "my people" its OK. SO King could identify as a group but a white guy cant. Its like we are not allowed to notice that someone is of a different race or sexual orientation, but everyone else has a free pass to attack us at any time seen fit.

So maybe this guy is not a great comedian, maybe he lost it, maybe he was on drugs.......whatever....I give him props for having the balls to say what he said. Its so funny the "heckler" had deeply hurt internal feelings so as to say "That's un-f***ing called for, ain't necessary."...... ...... hmm..... ...... ponder that..... .......

What now, burn down another city ?

[Guest YellowJacket894]

King of Queens is awesome.

[ocnblu]

I generally agree with your post razor. Where I differ is, I don't give him "props" for using the "N" word, nor do I agree with your last sentence.

I guess heckling happens from time to time, but it is rude. That audience paid to see Michael Richards. For someone to start yelling in the middle of the performance was uncalled for. Imagine if some dip$h! started yelling at the screen in a movie theater. Stupid and disrespectful to the performer and to his fellow audience members.

Michael Richards should have exchanged apologies with the heckler before the curtain fell that night.

[razoredge]

I understand Blu, but thats just my point........we cant use the N word, yet white trash, redneck, whitebread and cracker are A OK ? Black man can use the N word..........but no one else. Other people can make jokes about our genetically inherited traits but we cant about other races. I believe his statement about hanging with a fork up his ass was clearly an indication at an attempted joke.........would have knocked them dead had Richard Pryor said it.

Another example, my saying "what now, burn down another city" was a joke, but how is it interpreted ? Its too close to home to be funny. Its also got too much truth to it to be funny..............yet if a Black comedian used that in a stand up act..............funny as hell.

Im tellin ya "the man is trying to keep straight, left handed, white country dudes down ! " and Im so highly offended.................Ill never watch another program other than HeeHaw and Dukes of Hazard reruns.

:AH-HA_wink:

[usonia]

The only person who really knows what was going through his mind is Michael Richards. We either believe his explanation or we don't. That's all we can do.

I'm a pretty laid back person and I don't like to get angry because in the extreme, it can trigger something in me that is a night and day difference from my normal personality. There was one time I was pushed to that extreme and though I hate to admit it, I lashed out by saying something that I knew would hurt the other person. Under normal circumstances, it isn't something I would ever say. I didn't say it because I believed what I said, I just knew how much it would hurt them. After saying it, I felt like I was going to puke. To this day, I still feel badly when I think about it.

I don't believe I'm a racist person, but is there some situation where I could say something racially offensive to another person? I would like to think not, but I honestly don't know for certain.

[ocnblu]

As always, our boy razor cuts up the board.

I believe Michael Richards' explanation.

I agree with you, usonia.

Edited November 23, 2006 by ocnblu

[tmp]

I wonder if there isn't more to this that simply is not going to be addressed. Not that it's any excuse, but how damaging could it be for someone to be on a hit series for years and suddenly be in career free-fall? I've worked tangentially in show-biz and I know how much these guys on hit TV shows are treated: everything you do is fantastic, nobody ever tells you "no", your every utterance, no matter how banal is treated like the funniest thing ever uttered, and to top it off, you're paid more in a week than most people are paid in three years. What happens to you after that's gone? You've been on a hit series for 8 years, then your own series tanks, then 6 years later you're taking voice-over work and appearing at the Laugh Factory and people are heckling you? Ten years ago executives at NBC would have cheerfuly licked your 'nads and now people are HECKLIING YOU!?!?!

It's not pretty and it doesn't make it all right, but it does sort of explain the meanness of it in a Baby Jane sort of way.

[GMman]

Hey razor...stop beating around the bush and tell us how you really feel!

I agree with what you said, but life's too short to linger on that stuff.

For me what was really disturbing watching that clip of Richards was how out of control the dude was. I mean he was screaming like he was about to come out of his skin. What a wierdo. BTW, I love Seinfeld and Kramer's character. This stupid stunt won't make me not like those shows anymore, but I'll probably look at anything the guy does from now on in a different way. I don't give any of these filthy rich actors a pass on anything. I think all of them think they're better than the rest of us in some way. Bless their little hearts when they have to deal with difficult situations like the rest of us do, usually on a daily basis.

[Sixty8panther]

I think that if we lowered our PC-shields, we will find that EVERYONE is a bad hair day away from becoming a screaming racist/bigot/mysogonist/homophobe/whatever.  Think about the last time you were really, really angry and dealing with an a-hole.  If that person has a visible "difference" (facial tick, bad skin, stutter, etc.), isn't that the one attribute you would naturally zero in on to get revenge or get them as angry as you?

  We are all animals, if you scratch the surface just a little.

219086[/snapback]

Yes... Opie & Anothony said it best. They were strangers and so he could

not pick out specifics to rip them appart... if a friend pisses you off you

can say "Listen you necrophiliac, unemployed f@#k who still reads

comic books and lives in his mother's basement, STFU, your opinion in

this case is worthless!" ...or something to that effect. But when we're

left to rage out against an anonymous human being we get dirty and say

things which are not only horrible but somethimes can not be made OK,

ever, after a million apologies.

Weather it's Gimp, Nerd, Redneck, Fuzzy Foreigner or whatever.

That being said the man apologized in a way that seemed genuinelly

sincere, he did NOT make excuses and said his peace and then retracted

away from the limelight.

Here's what f@#kign BUGS me big time, why do we only see this back

and forth confrontation with the hecklers only AFTER he looses his cool.

What he said was innapropriate in any circumstance but I can not judge

him fairly without seeing what racial slurs may have been yelled at him

before hand. This is in a lot of ways like the Rodney King tape... all we

see is the afternmath.

[turbo200]

I know I would never say something even remotely close to what he said. I can't beleive people here aren't outraged by what he said....it was disgusting, beyond just being rude! He actually said along time ago we used to stick fork's up your ass........what the f@#k was he thinking. Let's go out back, I'll stick a fork up his ass, and we'll all see that he'll have the same reaction. It does affect the show for me because I like to think of the characters as people, and I like to think they would act and know that they couldn't use some ridiculous biggoted comments. I feel bad for the guy, he hasn't been successful in the industry for some time, despite making loads of money off of Seinfeld, he is definitely a multi-millionaire here guys so I don't how much sympathizing there will be for his position, but despite being worth in the tens of millions, he hasn't had work, his passion, in a long time, well any that was successful, especially wildly successful and iconic like his character KRamer. So he tries out stand up comedy to exercise his creativity/passion, isn't used to it, isn't very good at it, doesn't like to get heckled, someone takes it too far and he goes bezerk. that's the only to describe what he did. I was at a show one time there, bob sagat was the comedian, he actually heard me talking to a waitress and then started making fun of me saying i was trying to make babies everywhere, it was pretty damn funny. what kramer said is anything but funny.

[Sixty8panther]

Agreed, if he was at the top of his game he wouldl have been

able to single out the heckler and make fun of him. Perhaps if

it was me I'd just stand there and stare off into space & wait

there in complete silence (except for the heckler) for the

audience to be like "WTF contiue with your act!" and I'd say

to them I think this guy up here in the balcony has something

more important to say, HE should geet the mike... put HIM on

the spot and make him look like a prick.

Also: Why was the heckler not thrown out before it got to that

point... the fact that no one interjected (esp. once M.R. went

off like a bomb) makes the Laugh Factory look like some

two-bit $h!-show that has no control of their own theatre.

The heckler should have gotten thrown on his ass to the curb,

and once M.R. said what he did he should have been escorted

off stage too, no one was in control there!

[GMman]

If the President of the United States had said this, then I could see being outraged. But this guy is JUST an actor. A "juggler". A want-to-be- important guy who made a lot of money. That's it. Just a regular guy with a bunch of cash. Regular people say stupid stuff everyday....and much worse things than that. It was shocking to learn that "Kramer" is capable of saying that stuff, but as CARBIZ pointed out, people are people. They make mistakes, sometimes really BIG mistakes. For me, being so "outraged" about it is just a way to show everybody how "not racist" you are.

For a guy who is (was) so rich, I will always wonder how sincere his apology was. Did he apologize so that he is not ruined as an actor or was it because he is genuinely sorry for what he did? I don't really care though, he's blown it as far as I'm concerned.

[BamBam]

I was never a huge Seinfeld fan.  I always thought the character of Kramer was stupid, rather than funny.  I don't blame the black dudes for heckling him: he  never was funny.

  I think that if we lowered our PC-shields, we will find that EVERYONE is a bad hair day away from becoming a screaming racist/bigot/mysogonist/homophobe/whatever.  Think about the last time you were really, really angry and dealing with an a-hole.  If that person has a visible "difference" (facial tick, bad skin, stutter, etc.), isn't that the one attribute you would naturally zero in on to get revenge or get them as angry as you?

  We are all animals, if you scratch the surface just a little.

219086[/snapback]

You hit the nail on there head there. A snap action should not pass judgement on a person as a whole. Because they made a fool of him in front of a live audience, his reasonable judgement was put to the side to find something hurtful to strike back and it's always the most obvious thing. In this case it was being black. It could have been homophobic, fat, bald, ugly or many other things.

Bad choice of words? Yes.

Racist? Unproven.

[ocnblu]

"Our clients were vulnerable," Allred said. "He went after them. He singled them out and he taunted them, and he did it in a closed room where they were captive."

The above is a direct quote from an article I just read, attributed to a lawyer hired by the two men who were heckling Michael Richards. They are demanding a face-to-face apology... and money. Surprise, surprise.

Michael Richards has already apologized to the world on television. For some strange reason, he apologized to Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton (! who weren't even there that night)... and now this.

THIS IS RIDICULOUS!

[razoredge]

I watched and listened to both files after I posted. Still I think he just went off, a bit risky at first and then he just said F'it, "Ive had enough". If anyone thinks about it, just having seen his acting and role playing hes gotta be a loose canon with an off the wall tendency. So I bet when hes mad he acts.........about .........like he did. Not making excuses just an eval, add a few lines of coke and a smart ass with more mouth than brains, whatcha got? the story of the week.

Wonder whos more hated now ?

Michael Richards

Michael Jackson

OJ Simpson

Al Sharpton

Jesse Jackson

Martha Stewart

Mel Gibson

thats some list of stand up members of society.................ey ? now evaluate it ?

Like others have said, we have no idea what those guys were saying. We did hear "cracker" and "washed up or nobody" after the fact, so maybe thats where it started, who knows, awful convienent the "tape just started rolling" yarite ! lawsuit ? yarite ! ring any bells? "hecklers damaged for life from racial slurs " cry me a F'in river and float me on out of this twilight zone.

responce - uncalled for ? yes

heckling - uncalled for ? yes

lawsuit - uncalled for ? yes

double standards - uncalled for ? yes

white men cant jump ?

white men cant hump ?

white men create this modern society ?

white men help each and everybody he can ?

white men fight for freedom for all ?

white men die doing so ?

is he a racist ?

are blacks racist ?

are hispanics racists ?

are...ahem..."middle eastern people"... racist ?

are old world peoples racist ?

do women hate men ?

do men hate women drivers ?

do ass holes only drive Toyotas ?

why cant I find more left handed guitars ?

WHO CARES !

[HarleyEarl]

you forgot about Milli Vanilli lol.....

the deconstruction of celebrities continues....it's all too hilarious.

almost a witchhunt going on by the media

everyone is just a little too sensitive

like with Rosie O'Donnel....everything anyone says now is homophobic...omg, Rosie, you were once funny...... now, just an annoying uptight, bitchy lesbian

[ocnblu]

Agreed, but... it didn't take long for the video clip of Kelly Ripa putting her hand over Regis' mouth during their show to surface on YouTube.

[Sixty8panther]

I'd like to have Kelly Ripa put her hand on something of mine.

[HarleyEarl]

Whoa, didn't realize Kelly was so bosomy....I think she wins this round with heavyweight contender, Rosie O.

[ocnblu]

She's got toilet paper in there.

[HarleyEarl]

lol....must be 3-ply.