I didn't see it but I read about it and Jerry's response and it just is so sad. I mean I like Kramer on Seinfeld, I hate having celebrities going about and showing their inner assholes and tainting shows I like. I don't know if I can ever watch a Mel Gibson or Tom Cruise movie again. I don't want my Seinfeld shows corrupted too.
An actor I've had a long friendship with who has starred in numerous shows with my children just got fired from the company he was in for going on stage drunk and I've sadly watched him in the last few years destroy a wonderful reputation full of terrific work. So sad.
Maybe the age of youtube will lead to a stronger sense of decorum among people. One can only hope.
Sigh. Hopefully the fact that Seinfeld is such an ensemble work, won't taint it too much.
That's sad about your friend, but it seems like the only "acceptable" explanation for bad behavior these days is "I was drunk" or "I have a substance abuse problem," and then getting yourself into rehab.
I half expected Richards to do the same thing, but apparently substance abuse is not the problem here. He did go on about his rage issues and personal problems and whatnot, but I wasn't sure what he was talking about.
I haven't seen the video of the incident itself, but apparently Michael Richards (aka Kramer) went on a rage against hecklers a few days ago and used racial slurs and other really inflammatory racist language, upsetting a lot of people in the audience. Read more.
Then he went on Letterman last night, supposedly to apologize, but it was a very odd apology and didn't make much sense. Jerry Seinfeld was the scheduled guest and he asked Dave to let Richards make a statement via satellite from LA.
I'm pretty sure there are transcripts of his rant somewhere. The story is all over the place: cnn, abcnews, eonline. It was even covered on CBS News, for crying out loud!
We're at war, but a comedian yelling at hecklers makes the nightly news. And I'm told it was one of the lead stories. Although that might be more about his crazy "apology" on Letterman, which has made it into an even bigger story.
Heh. I didn't watch it, but I did hear some of it. I listen to the Dan Patrick radio show at work, so since he was on the show last night (right?) they played some audio clips. There was also some behind the scenes stuff, but I was sort of distracted and I don't remember.
Yes, Dan Patrick was the guest after Seinfeld. I'd be curious what he had to say about the Richards thing, if Jerry said anything backstage that was noteworthy.
I don't remember exactly, I'm not sure he actually talked to Jerry. But I'm an Insider on ESPN.com, so I can download segments of the show. So I went and found the two segments where he talked about Letterman and uploaded them for you.
Segment 1 (pretty much the whole segment is about Letterman)
Segment 2 (takes a couple calls, answers a couple e-mail questions--the beginning of the segment is about other stuff)
being a standup comic I can say there is absolutely no good reason for what he did. Hecklers are part of the job and no decent human being would have dealt with it like that.
If he had a publicist the first thing they would have done is stuck him in rehab. Even if he's stone cold sober, fake it. It seems the world forgives racists if they are drunk racists. Sad but true - just ask Mel Gibson.
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An actor I've had a long friendship with who has starred in numerous shows with my children just got fired from the company he was in for going on stage drunk and I've sadly watched him in the last few years destroy a wonderful reputation full of terrific work. So sad.
Maybe the age of youtube will lead to a stronger sense of decorum among people. One can only hope.
Sigh. Hopefully the fact that Seinfeld is such an ensemble work, won't taint it too much.
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I half expected Richards to do the same thing, but apparently substance abuse is not the problem here. He did go on about his rage issues and personal problems and whatnot, but I wasn't sure what he was talking about.
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What did he do?
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I haven't seen the video of the incident itself, but apparently Michael Richards (aka Kramer) went on a rage against hecklers a few days ago and used racial slurs and other really inflammatory racist language, upsetting a lot of people in the audience. Read more.
Then he went on Letterman last night, supposedly to apologize, but it was a very odd apology and didn't make much sense. Jerry Seinfeld was the scheduled guest and he asked Dave to let Richards make a statement via satellite from LA.
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We're at war, but a comedian yelling at hecklers makes the nightly news. And I'm told it was one of the lead stories. Although that might be more about his crazy "apology" on Letterman, which has made it into an even bigger story.
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Segment 1 (pretty much the whole segment is about Letterman)
Segment 2 (takes a couple calls, answers a couple e-mail questions--the beginning of the segment is about other stuff)
Reply
If he had a publicist the first thing they would have done is stuck him in rehab. Even if he's stone cold sober, fake it. It seems the world forgives racists if they are drunk racists. Sad but true - just ask Mel Gibson.
Reply
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