KKKramer
(Thanks to Bobbie Oliver for the title of this post!)
I guess it's a little late to be writing anything about the Michael Richards fiasco, but I started writing this post a few days ago, and since this has been a big topic of conversation around the household, at the comedy clubs, and over thanksgiving dinner, I figure I ought to get it out.
I'll start by saying that I'm not sure Michael Richards is a racist. My best guess as to what was going through his mind is something like "I'll do the wacky racist character! That'll be pushing the envelope!" If you follow the transcript, he says something like "Ooh, those words! They still have the power to shock," which leads me to think that he thought he was making some kind of Lenny Bruce-style comment on the power we give to racist words. I do think he went too far, crossed the line, was in the wrong, whatever, but I'm not sure his intentions weren't ironic. I'm not saying that I know Michael Richards isn't racist, but I am saying that I don't know that he is racist.
I also can't agree with one talking head on Scarborough Country last Monday who said that this was much worse than Mel Gibson's racist tirade against Jews. I would say, if we have to make such comparisons, that the Richards situation is less troubling, simply because it was on a stage at a comedy club, where people expect to hear some offensive stuff.
Now the Laugh Factory is announcing that it will be banning all "hate words," and fining comics who use them onstage. And inevitably, we're starting to hear comics get up in arms over this attack on the first ammendment by "the PC police" (I had found a particularly outspoken message board thread on the subject a couple days ago, but it seems to have disapeared, or at least escaped the all-seeing eye of Google). I always find it funny when white guys get up in arms about not being able to say "nigger" (I wonder how much a fuss these same guys made the last time cops put 40 bullets into an unarmed black man), but I do think there is a point, and I'll explain what I mean.
To illustrate my point, I'll post another example of racist humor by a low-level celebrity (which didn't get as much attention because it's in print, and because people care even less about John Kricfalusi than Michael Richards). Here's John K. opening his report on this year's ComiCon:
We drove down Friday night and Marc booked us at the lovely and inviting "N****r Rape Inn" in El Centro. Marlo had a refreshing night's sleep wrapped in cigarette soakened sheets, while horny men who recently have been given voting rights scratched at her door all night long looking for a little home-style unwilling affection.
Obviously, some commenters objected to this, and of course some immediately responded with nonsense like this:
Alright, everybody drop the race card already! At least John had the decency to censor his language! Give him some goddamn credit for once, instead of jumping on the bandwagon and calling him a "racist, sexist, homophobe"! I just LOVE the way you'll all say such wonderful things about him when you read your own agenda into his cartoons, but the minute he says something your particular pressure group considers the LEAST bit "offensive", you'll whine and bitch and cause a temper tantrum until you get your P.C. way! Man, some people love to use folks like John for their own personal interests!
Hilarious. But my point is, what JK said was offensive not because of his use of the "N word," but because it clearly expresses the idea that black guys just love rapin' white women! And that's an idea that could just as easily be expressed without the use of "hate words." Banning the words is missing the point, like removing the confederate flag from southern state flags without changing racist policies and practices within those states.
The other issue is that this seems to have not been an isolated incident. One female comic reports having been the recipient of a backstage verbal assault from Richards, in which he called her a cunt for 10 minutes. If people in power at the clubs had chosen to do something about this behavior then, they might not have had to go through this now.
So, I dunno...maybe this can be the first line in a dialogue, if anyone wants to have one.
I guess it's a little late to be writing anything about the Michael Richards fiasco, but I started writing this post a few days ago, and since this has been a big topic of conversation around the household, at the comedy clubs, and over thanksgiving dinner, I figure I ought to get it out.
I'll start by saying that I'm not sure Michael Richards is a racist. My best guess as to what was going through his mind is something like "I'll do the wacky racist character! That'll be pushing the envelope!" If you follow the transcript, he says something like "Ooh, those words! They still have the power to shock," which leads me to think that he thought he was making some kind of Lenny Bruce-style comment on the power we give to racist words. I do think he went too far, crossed the line, was in the wrong, whatever, but I'm not sure his intentions weren't ironic. I'm not saying that I know Michael Richards isn't racist, but I am saying that I don't know that he is racist.
I also can't agree with one talking head on Scarborough Country last Monday who said that this was much worse than Mel Gibson's racist tirade against Jews. I would say, if we have to make such comparisons, that the Richards situation is less troubling, simply because it was on a stage at a comedy club, where people expect to hear some offensive stuff.
Now the Laugh Factory is announcing that it will be banning all "hate words," and fining comics who use them onstage. And inevitably, we're starting to hear comics get up in arms over this attack on the first ammendment by "the PC police" (I had found a particularly outspoken message board thread on the subject a couple days ago, but it seems to have disapeared, or at least escaped the all-seeing eye of Google). I always find it funny when white guys get up in arms about not being able to say "nigger" (I wonder how much a fuss these same guys made the last time cops put 40 bullets into an unarmed black man), but I do think there is a point, and I'll explain what I mean.
To illustrate my point, I'll post another example of racist humor by a low-level celebrity (which didn't get as much attention because it's in print, and because people care even less about John Kricfalusi than Michael Richards). Here's John K. opening his report on this year's ComiCon:
We drove down Friday night and Marc booked us at the lovely and inviting "N****r Rape Inn" in El Centro. Marlo had a refreshing night's sleep wrapped in cigarette soakened sheets, while horny men who recently have been given voting rights scratched at her door all night long looking for a little home-style unwilling affection.
Obviously, some commenters objected to this, and of course some immediately responded with nonsense like this:
Alright, everybody drop the race card already! At least John had the decency to censor his language! Give him some goddamn credit for once, instead of jumping on the bandwagon and calling him a "racist, sexist, homophobe"! I just LOVE the way you'll all say such wonderful things about him when you read your own agenda into his cartoons, but the minute he says something your particular pressure group considers the LEAST bit "offensive", you'll whine and bitch and cause a temper tantrum until you get your P.C. way! Man, some people love to use folks like John for their own personal interests!
Hilarious. But my point is, what JK said was offensive not because of his use of the "N word," but because it clearly expresses the idea that black guys just love rapin' white women! And that's an idea that could just as easily be expressed without the use of "hate words." Banning the words is missing the point, like removing the confederate flag from southern state flags without changing racist policies and practices within those states.
The other issue is that this seems to have not been an isolated incident. One female comic reports having been the recipient of a backstage verbal assault from Richards, in which he called her a cunt for 10 minutes. If people in power at the clubs had chosen to do something about this behavior then, they might not have had to go through this now.
So, I dunno...maybe this can be the first line in a dialogue, if anyone wants to have one.
posted by Chris Oliver at 11:17 AM
1 Comments:
We have been arguing about this at home and we have both gone public, so for my response, go to:
http://bobbieoliver.net/SUA_forum.htm
Post a Comment
<< Home