Kramer

Today is allegedly the 3rd Anniversary of Michael Richard's (AKA, Seinfeld's "Kramer") racist tirade at a comedy club in Las Angeles. If you're not aware of the situation, then let me explain:

Richards was performing his stand-up routine at a club (The Laugh Factory, I think?) when a couple of rowdy black guys started heckling him. At first, he ignored it as any professional should have. However, he eventually lost it and started screaming the N-Word, and about how "50 years ago you all would've been hanging from the trees with forks in your butts!". I'm still not sure what that last part means, but it was nonetheless offensive and Richards, dreading the impending media backlash, fled the public eye for several years.

While he was in absentia, he made a call to David Letterman during one of Letterman's shows and apologized and for a brief moment, we were all glad he wasn't some lunatic bigot. Unfortunately, just as soon as he'd popped back out into the spotlight, he disappeared again for another several years.

Fast forward to, uh, now. There was recently a scene from "Curb Your Enthusiasm" (the show is the platform for the famous Seinfeld reunion) that was satirizing that horrible event. Watch.


Bugh. I actually had to go to TMZ.com to get the video. *Shudder*
 
I thought it was funny. I thought it was a good move for him and might be a therapeutic experience both for the actor and the audience. But what happens? TMZ is running a huge campaign against the scene, calling it "inappropriate".
 
Alright, listen here, TMZ. Howabout you grow up, huh? You know what kind of people don't have a sense of rumour? Communists! If you don't laugh and sigh and enjoy the cathartic irony, then you, sir, are a Communist. I mean, sure, the guy went a tad nuts a couple of years ago, but seriously, it would take an otherworldly exhibition of restraint not to say something inflammatory towards those unruly hecklers. So, maybe the N-Word was a tad much. I'll give you that. But let me ask you this: If you're up on stage, and a kid with glasses starts pestering you, and you want to shut him up, what's the first thing you're going to make fun of? His glasses, of course! What about a fat kid? I'd be hard pressed not to believe that you wouldn't say something like, "Hey, Fatty McButterpants, all that interrupting you're doing is probably the most exercise you've gotten in a month!" What about Kasey Rogers? Er, well, that's a weird case because, to be frank, what ISN'T there to make fun of, amirite?
 
Anyway. I love Seinfeld and Michael Richard's "Kramer" is one of the greatest characters of all time. I just think that people that dwell on drama in the past are a lot like high schoolers, or FGCUers. Get over it and stop taking everything so seriously.
 
11:57PM and I am going to bed. 'Night!
 
-J