Which didn't exactly go very smooth wink
I dont know whether Richards has done a lot of stand up but there is a way of dealing with hecklers. Richards was heckled by two audience members and then proceeded to go on a mad one. He went on some kind of irate insane racial tirade which lead to a slanging match and has left Richards in a lot of turmoil. But help was at hand for Richards, the double revs of Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson were there to listen to Richards squirm and apologise for his remarks.
http//www.tmz.com/2006/11/20/kramers-racist-tirade-caught-on-tape/
Richards goes on stage and is quite obviously not prepared and experienced to deal with hecklers (which had to be inevitable really?) and instead of handling the situation he lost his cool and now that he's taking a lot of heat he hires a PR man to bail him out roll
The only thing I'm suprised about is that Max Clifford never got in there wink
http//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061123/ap_on_en_tv/michael_richards
I have seen this on a number of media outlets since it happened on Friday.
Apparently he has been doing stand-up for a while and his friends were mystified as to why he reacted the way he did and so terribly.
The thing is that if he'd made a punchline out of it early on, he'd probably have got away with it. Richards' attacks were definitely not in that vein and it's going to be a difficult path to move beyond what he did. His career was still on a downward spiral since the glory days of "Seinfeld" so this could really be the final nail for him.
On the other hand, if he's smart, he will apologise profusely, hold his hand up and admit he made a terrible mistake and then work hard to rebuild his relationship with the black community.
This skin colour thing is probably the stupidest thing that exists in our human world - racism occurs on both sides sadly and the "stick it to the white guy" attitude winds me up as much as whites picking on blacks.
Here's the thing though - for some reason people seem more prepared to buy a flawed bastard than a one-time star. For some reason if you've been caught beating your wife, jacking up heroin, touching an otter, or some other depraved wacko thing, then you're A-list material again.
At first I thought Richards was responding "in character" but then he just kept on at it. Very very odd and, whilst he's entitled to believe whatever he wants, pretty ignorant and stoopid.
Depends on the star and whether the media want him finished or not.
Michael Jackson - basically finished in US but ok in the rest of the world.
OJ Simpson - was still entertained but probably finished now, due to recent events.
Religious leaders found to have 'sinned' - basically finished but sometimes permitted to continue if they remain below the radar.
Portland Jailblazers (as was) - combination of deadbeat dads, druggies, petty criminals and wife beaters but permitted to remain as stars until team management finally lost their patience and offloaded them all.
This is the first time I've seen the whole thing and I find it quite dreadful. This was a HUGE racist rant. I don't think however much he sucks up to the Revs Jessie n' Al he'll ever live it down. It really was nasty.
As to buying flawed people, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I log into Sky News about once a week and it seems every week Pete Doherty has been arrested again on drug charges. He is the british Scott Weiland. But has Babyshambles done anything lately apart from cancel tour dates?
The celebrity cock-sucking of Pete Doherty makes me utterly sick. The mere fact that he's been dipping his heroin wick into Kate Moss has made her the absolute darling of the UK media machine. Simply by being photographed with him sniffing up coke and playing with needles she was slightly rebuffed (dropped from a modelling contract) but now is everywhere as the It-Girl of British entertainment. Hell, she even appeared alongside Matt Lucas in the stage version of Little Britain this week - to which every news outlet in Britain gushed about it in special segments.
I think the old Bill Maher line about how you've never really made in Hollywood until you've beaten your wife and been caught buying heroin from a cop is, sadly, often very apt. It doesn't always follow suit of course - Pilgrims examples being good examples. But it does seem that drugs are the exception - why else would any public person caught doing anything untoward automatically check themselves into rehab to explain why it all happened?
As for Pete being the Scott Weiland of the UK - I'd say he's worse. At least Weiland went to prison. And he wasn't photographed injecting an already unconscious girl on a hotel bedroom floor. And whereas Weiland has some talent (solo album is pretty darn good) Doherty has diddly squat. Still, Weiland is a prize nob.
As for Michael Richards - I think he's finally ruined Seinfeld. I've read countless columns and blogs over the last few days saying that watching Seinfeld reruns just isn't the same.