Comedian Paul Mooney on Michael Richards
This is kinda old now but if you haven’t heard about it, Michael “Kramer” Richards went all KKK on some black audience members who’d heckled him during a comedy performance. Paul Mooney makes a good point in the clip: racial jokes are allowed as long as they have an out, that there’s a punchline but Michael Richards wasn’t joking so he had no excuses.
And there’s also the unwritten rule that if you make derogatory racial jokes, they better be aimed at your own people. That was how Michael Richards explained his anti-Semitic jokes that he told a few months back: he was Jewish so he’s allowed to. Except that he ain’t really Jewish either. Oy vey.
So here’s the clip of Paul Rooney giving his thoughts about the incident. Watch till the end: the joke that he used to make his point is funny.
Technorati Tags: racism, Michael Richards, Paul Mooney
3 Responses to “Comedian Paul Mooney on Michael Richards”
Leave a Reply
You might also be interested in these
- Going to Paul van Dyk tonight
- Michael Winslow - Master of Vocal Effects
- Belated birthday gifts from Paul
- Bruce Willis to make a movie based on blog
- Love the 80s
5 minutes… lol
I didn’t watch the clip cause the sound is fucked on my comp. But I did hear about the incident. And you’re right; generally the rule for racist jokes is that they should be bagging out your own race. e.g. I could joke about how white ppl can’t dance as i am white but I couldn’t make a slur against asians. But what “Kramer” said, by the sounds of it, was not funny, just plain derogatory.
There was also the Mel Gibson incident, did you hear about that? Also shocking, particularly because he blamed his behaviour on a “disease” as if having a drinking problem gives you a an excuse to be prejudice.
damion: heh yeah funny and has social commentary.
girlstar7: Kramer basically said on stage that if it was the 50s or 60s, the people who’d heckled him would have been chased with pitch forks and lynched etc. And he used the “N” word repeatedly. So yeah nasty stuff.
I know about the Mel Gibson incident too. There’s the saying that a drunk man says what a sober man won’t. So him blaming it on his alcoholism is ok but that also means that deep down he’s anti-Semitic just like his father is. No matter how much he denies it.