The Incident

I waited a week to write about the Michael Richards "incident" because I wasn't sure I had anything to say. Believe it or not, I actually think before some of these posts. Just to recap in case somebody missed it. Last Friday Michael Richards (Kramer from Seinfeld) was doing a show at the Laugh Factory in L.A. when he was unleashed several comments that has caused a firestorm of controversy. (If you haven't seen the footage, you can see it on YouTube. Very interesting.)

Well, first off, I've been watching the aftermath, reading it on message boards and hearing it on the radio and watching it on TV, and everyone seems to be so upset about him being racist. There was a man on television who said we have to change Richards' thinking about other races. Now, whether or not he is racist is not what I'm concerned about. If he is, I couldn't care less. He has the freedom to believe and feel whatever he wants about issues. The main issue is not whether he is a racist or not, it's the words he used and the place and format he expressed them in.

Now, as much as we like to believe we have "free speech," we don't. We can say what we want and, for the most part, avoid the legal repercussions (they are planning on suing Richards [with Gloria Allred as the attorney], so I'm sure "Free Speech" will be cried). You can express your opinion, but there will be a backlash from the people who hear it, or hear about it. In some form we have to pay the price for what we say.

I have used this blog to express my opinions and I have said some things that have been harsh (as recent as a couple of posts ago). If I was in the public spotlight with so much money I was wiping my ass with it, would I have been sued by Christians for my statements? There are much worse statements being made in public and on the web than what Michael Richards said.

Michael Richards shouldn't have responded the way he did to the hecklers. There has to be some professionalism in his business. Now the people he heckled are going to take legal action (which is their right) to get money from him. They're saying they were attacked and blah, blah, blah. Richards will probably suffer the worse f0r his actions. His career will probably not recover (not that it was going that well anyway) and he'll have to deal with this issue for the rest of his life, wherever he goes, whatever he does. The hecklers will do some padding to their wallets and walk away from it all.

I'm not justifying the actions of Michael Richards, I'm just saying that no one is coming out the winner here. Richards is painted as a racist and the hecklers paint themselves as people who take advantage of a rich man's mistake. I just think they all [Richards and the hecklers] show how disgusting society has become.