Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Ashy Larry Talks Racist Kramer Incident, "He Went Too Far"

In light of Michael Richards' racist tirade at West Hollywood, CA's Laugh Factory, comedian Donnell Rawlings weighed in on the former "Seinfeld" star's break down and apology.
This past Friday (November 17), Richards, better known for playing Kramer on the highly popular "Seinfeld"
sitcom, repeatedly shouted the N word at an audience member after being heckled. Though the comedian returned to the Laugh Factory for a performance the next day, he has now reportedly been banned from the venue. Comedian Donnell Rawlings, a fan of Richards work on "Seinfeld," discussed the incident.
"Yeah, I think he went too far," Rawlings told SOHH.com. "Whether you're in showbiz or not,
we all get to a point where we black out and that's when your true character comes out. Unfortunately for him, his true character was spitting out racist slurs."
"It's always been a question like...when can you use the N word, but being a fan of hip-hop we know that we use it differently," Rawlings added. "But used in the wrong hands, it's definitely pretty dangerous and he did it with the "e-r."
Last night, (November 20) Richards apologized via a
satellite appearance on "The Late Show With David Letterman." "I am not a racist, that's what's so insane about this," Richards offered during the apology. "I lost my temper onstage. I got heckled and took it badly and went into a rage." Thus far, black comedians haven't cared much for Richards' apology.
"The political thing was to apologize but he really exposed himself," Rawlings explained. "Even when I heard bits of it when he was saying 'nigga' when he was like 'shocking...shocking, uh,' I thought he was gon do something funny on words and kinda flip it. But when he said a comment about 50 years ago you'd be hanging from a tree, that was definitely crossing the line
."