Michael Richards
| Michael Richards |
|---|
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| Original YTMND: |
| Kramer may be a racist... |
| by DIGIHAD |
| November 20, 2006 |
| Worthy Spinoffs: |
Michael Richards is an actor/stand-up comic best known for his role in the hit NBC sitcom Seinfeld as Cosmo Kramer. During the weekend of November 19th, 2006, Richards lost his temper on stage. He was at um, a comedy club trying to uh, do his act and he got heckled and he, he took it badly and went into a, a rage, and uh, said some pretty uh, nasty things to some Afro-Americans (a lot of trash talk). This trash talk was the cause of much controversy in the popular media.
Moments after a video emerged on YouTube, YTMNDers quickly took advantage and made a fad very quickly, many of them racial of nature. While many of them worked by putting Richards' comments into the context of his Seinfeld character (Kramer Kills Negroes!, Cause of Kramer's Racism), a few others made reference to his role in the film UHF as Stanley Spadowski (Stanley Spudowski's Clubhouse, Racist Michael Richards and his firehose). Other sites recontextualized his comments altogether for humourous effect (such as Meatwad's Kramer Comedy Act Tribute).
Richards would apologise for his actions in an interview via satellite with David Letterman (his longtime friend Jerry Seinfeld was Letterman's in-studio guest). Many people in the audience laughed for brief moments during the interview before being cautioned to stop by Seinfeld. The apology itself served as another resource for YTMND, both on its own (It's insane, he's not even racist!) and in combination with his original remarks (kkkramer).
