WTF?: "Seinfeld"'s Michael 'Kramer' Richards in Weird-o-Rama Onstage Meltdown

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if it upsets them then they should call al sharpton and do something about it!

― Ms Misery, Friday, 13 April 2007 15:58 (nineteen years ago)

"I don't understand why all these white people got so offended when I talked about satan crucifying their children and drinking their blood. Heavy Metal singers say that sort of thing all the time and no one complains. I must be misusing the slang"

― Hurting 2, Friday, 13 April 2007 15:59 (nineteen years ago)

Hurting as both Sharpton and those athletes have said, this is not, or should not be about whether Don Imus "is a racist" or whether he deserves what he gets, this is about hateful ignorant speech over the public airwaves, whoever says it, and calling jesse jackson and al sharpton "vultures" while focusing on the exact opposite of what sharpton and the athletes have said about it is a pretty high-level way of missing the point

shakey yeah, i mean - was imus supposed to have said this on his show? in an interview? as one of his characters on the show (many of whom say obviously hateful things but are not supposed to be sympathetic in any way?)

― Tracer Hand, Friday, 13 April 2007 16:01 (nineteen years ago)

the highlight - or lowlight maybe - of this whole thing was when imus said "that's a bunch of jive" on sharpton's radio show! cuz imus, too me, is totally of the era of jive turkeys. that's when i first heard him. in the 70's along with harry harrison and all those other new york deejays. this is when i still toted a denim jimmy jj walker "dynomite" bookbag and wore my dad's denim cap with all the pockets in it.

― scott seward, Friday, 13 April 2007 16:07 (nineteen years ago)

jive turkeys -vs- vultures

― scott seward, Friday, 13 April 2007 16:07 (nineteen years ago)

Tracer - I don't know, it doesn't look like Nelson's column is online. But I would suspect its from an interview...? If it was something he said on the air on his show it would be recorded somewhere and available and specifically cited.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 13 April 2007 16:10 (nineteen years ago)

yeah. it's sort of buried in the mists of time. like when kerry said "who among us doesn't love nascar?" or when gore "said" he invented the internet. look i mean it's definitely a side point but i've never been a huge fan of ifill. she writes this column about imus a couple of days ago, where she repeats the cleaning lady story, saying she'd heard about it from someone else, and ends by saying "Yesterday, [Imus] began telling people he never actually called me a cleaning lady. Whatever. This is not about me." - "whatever"? that's the journalist's reaction? and if it's not about you why have you spent seven paragraphs talking about yourself?

― Tracer Hand, Friday, 13 April 2007 16:12 (nineteen years ago)

Here's what Imus says about it:

“We had a bit on the radio called ‘Imus in Washington,’ which was like fake news. And I had a fake -- like a David Duke character. And Gwen Ifill had just been named the White House correspondent for NBC News. And this David Duke-like character, reflecting the philosophy and the attitude of the Reagan administration said, isn't it great that Gwen Ifill had been invited back to the White House as a cleaning lady.”

“And for years people have said I said that. I didn't say that. We were -- that was satire. That was a reflection of the racism we perceived of that administration. And for years I have had to -- people have said, well, you said this about Gwen Ifill, I did not say that.”

― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 13 April 2007 16:14 (nineteen years ago)

ding ding ding ding

― Tracer Hand, Friday, 13 April 2007 16:15 (nineteen years ago)

gwen ifill: "it's the same thing!!"

― Tracer Hand, Friday, 13 April 2007 16:16 (nineteen years ago)

seven paragraphs? dude it was like a 5 paragraph essay. Her point in even mentioning it was to emphasize that she's never paid attention to the guy

xxps to tracer

― deej, Friday, 13 April 2007 16:16 (nineteen years ago)

did he have a 'character' call Patrick Ewing "Mighty Joe Young"?

― Dr Morbius, Friday, 13 April 2007 16:17 (nineteen years ago)

deej i'm talking about her ny times op-ed

― Tracer Hand, Friday, 13 April 2007 16:18 (nineteen years ago)

anyway, while Imus' explanation strikes me as kinda disingenuous and self-serving (bear in mind I've always hated him), you have a point about this not being very well-documented and spreading all viral-styleee

― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 13 April 2007 16:19 (nineteen years ago)

xp so am I, i think?

― deej, Friday, 13 April 2007 16:20 (nineteen years ago)

ok its more paragraphs than i thought but paragraphs usually implies more than two sentences per. and its 5 'paragraphs' anyway

― deej, Friday, 13 April 2007 16:21 (nineteen years ago)

what is your point? my point is that she says "this is not about me" after spending approx 1/3 of her piece repeating a very misleading story about herself!

― Tracer Hand, Friday, 13 April 2007 16:22 (nineteen years ago)

The Ifill thing (if we accept his explanation) would be another example of stuff like Randy Newman being accused of being a bigot by the MSM for penning "Short People." But what little I've heard of Imus' "satire" smells of using characters to say stuff his audience finds straight-on funny, ie black reporter as cleaning lady.

― Dr Morbius, Friday, 13 April 2007 16:23 (nineteen years ago)

1. I know, because he apparently did it to me.

2. I was covering the White House for this newspaper in 1993, when Mr. Imus’s producer began calling to invite me on his radio program. I didn’t return his calls. I had my hands plenty full covering Bill Clinton.

3. Soon enough, the phone calls stopped. Then quizzical colleagues began asking me why Don Imus seemed to have a problem with me. I had no idea what they were talking about because I never listened to the program.

4. It was not until five years later, when Mr. Imus and I were both working under the NBC News umbrella — his show was being simulcast on MSNBC; I was a Capitol Hill correspondent for the network — that I discovered why people were asking those questions. It took Lars-Erik Nelson, a columnist for The New York Daily News, to finally explain what no one else had wanted to repeat.

5. “Isn’t The Times wonderful,” Mr. Nelson quoted Mr. Imus as saying on the radio. “It lets the cleaning lady cover the White House.”

6. I was taken aback but not outraged. I’d certainly been called worse and indeed jumped at the chance to use the old insult to explain to my NBC bosses why I did not want to appear on the Imus show.

7. I haven’t talked about this much. I’m a big girl. I have a platform. I have a voice. I’ve been working in journalism long enough that there is little danger that a radio D.J.’s juvenile slap will define or scar me. Yesterday, he began telling people he never actually called me a cleaning lady. Whatever. This is not about me.

...

oh, and:

8. Yes, he did. Every time a young black girl shyly approaches me for an autograph or writes or calls or stops me on the street to ask how she can become a journalist, I feel an enormous responsibility. It’s more than simply being a role model. I know I have to be a voice for them as well.

― Tracer Hand, Friday, 13 April 2007 16:24 (nineteen years ago)

morbs you could certainly make that argument, and having a fuller picture of the lines in the david duke character's sketch could help you decide.

― Tracer Hand, Friday, 13 April 2007 16:32 (nineteen years ago)

#8 ugh

― JW, Friday, 13 April 2007 16:32 (nineteen years ago)

yeah i dunno, there's a bit of a difference between "i didn't say that" and "i said that as part of my hee-larious david duke-type character routine in which we all get to make and laugh at racist jokes while pretending to make fun of racists."

― tipsy mothra, Friday, 13 April 2007 16:34 (nineteen years ago)

People have called on the FCC to fine him

And I call upon Jehovah to smite him. And I call upon Michael Richards to shun him. And I call upon the entire population of China and Mongolia to make fun of him. But I haven't had much luck, yet.

― Aimless, Friday, 13 April 2007 16:42 (nineteen years ago)

here's what imus should have done. he should have gone on sharpton's show and immediately started crying and then said: "please forgive me reverend al. when i was young i was taught how to speak jive by a man, no, not even a man, more of a WOLFman, and even though i know it's not right and that i go too far sometimes, it's like an addiction..." the nation would have wept for don.

― scott seward, Friday, 13 April 2007 16:44 (nineteen years ago)

the jive talking wolf man will be imus' replacement

― kenan, Friday, 13 April 2007 16:48 (nineteen years ago)

in some ways the most bizarre thing ifill says is "I’ve been working in journalism long enough that there is little danger that a radio D.J.’s juvenile slap will define or scar me."

so, like, those athletes really shouldn't have worried so much? many, many people are defined and scarred by juvenile talk radio slaps - in the case of presidential candidates they can be defined and scarred right out of the race! but ifill has been working in journalism long enough to know that this just isn't true.

― Tracer Hand, Friday, 13 April 2007 16:50 (nineteen years ago)

the jive talking wolf man will be imus' replacement

uh Wolfman Jack is dead

― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 13 April 2007 16:52 (nineteen years ago)

she's just trying not to look like a whiner

― kenan, Friday, 13 April 2007 16:52 (nineteen years ago)

wolfman jack was awesome!

― M@tt He1ges0n, Friday, 13 April 2007 16:53 (nineteen years ago)

uh Wolfman Jack is dead

oh HA i missed the wolfman jack reference

― kenan, Friday, 13 April 2007 16:53 (nineteen years ago)

imus is so amazingly vile looking

― Tracer Hand, Friday, 13 April 2007 16:55 (nineteen years ago)

Shakey Mo's Top 3 Radio Personalities of All Time

1. Johnny Otis
2. Paul Harvey
3. Wolfman Jack

― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 13 April 2007 16:56 (nineteen years ago)

where is Art Bell?

― kenan, Friday, 13 April 2007 16:58 (nineteen years ago)

not on the air in SoCal?

― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 13 April 2007 16:59 (nineteen years ago)

where is Jean Shepherd?

― Dr Morbius, Friday, 13 April 2007 17:00 (nineteen years ago)

I don't know either of those people. hey its a short list!

― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 13 April 2007 17:01 (nineteen years ago)

I think Ifill's comment about her not being hurt was in the context of her saying, "I have a platform. I have a voice." IOW, she has just as big a megaphone as any radio DJ and can be heard on equal terms, thus not being required to fill the role of an aggrieved victim.

The Rutgers basketball team don't have a platform with millions of listeners, unless they are able take their grievance to the media and win a hearing. Ifill is a media insider who has her own television program and a newspaper byline, so she can bite back directly if she wants. No need to get hurt when she can get even.

― Aimless, Friday, 13 April 2007 17:28 (nineteen years ago)

Well, not just that, but "I've been working in journalism long enough" = she's established, confident in her professional abilities, and not running for anything, which is a much better point to shrug off barbs than when you're 19 or 20 and just lost a basketball game.

― nabisco, Friday, 13 April 2007 17:33 (nineteen years ago)

yeah, i'm sure gwen could fill a book with the crap she's had to endure to get to where she is. and that was her point. it would take a lot more than imus to surprise her at this late date. not so with kids who were simply having the time of their lives playing a game that they love.

― scott seward, Friday, 13 April 2007 17:43 (nineteen years ago)

the ultimate victim in all this: white males.

in fact, just check the headlines to get an idea what plenty of schmucks are talking about today.

― kingfish, Friday, 13 April 2007 17:43 (nineteen years ago)

does anyone under the age of 70 listen to paul harvey?

― rps, Friday, 13 April 2007 17:49 (nineteen years ago)

Don Imus could have saved himself a lot of trouble.

Instead of insulting the superstar black women's basketball players at Rutgers University, he should have told his listeners that white males are idiots who do nothing but drink beer, ogle women and scratch themselves. That way, rather than hearing himself rightly denounced for his rude, discriminatory remarks, he would have heard … nothing.

Radio talk-show host Don Imus appears on Rev. Al Sharpton's radio show in New York, in a file photo from April 9, 2007, where Imus apologized for insensitive remarks he made about the Rutgers women's basketball team. CBS Corp. announced Thursday that it would permanently cancel Imus's morning radio talk program. REUTERS/Chip East/Files (UNITED STATES)

Seriously, is there any group you can attack with more impunity than males --particularly white males?

Here's how I put it during a recent appearance on "The O'Reilly Factor":

"Our boys are being abused by the media in a different way ... All you have to do is turn on the TV for 30 minutes and tell me how men and dads are portrayed -- as ignorant and stupid and lazy. The white, Anglo-Saxon male, the young teenage guy, is probably the most discriminated against kid on the face of the earth right now."

Although my comments on the subject were brief, this simple observation about how badly today's males are treated garnered a huge reaction. E-mail poured in. Viewer after viewer thanked me for defending just about the only group it's "PC" to diss. (Another frequent target: conservative Christians.)

A typical reaction from one father was this: "Thank you for your courage. It touches my heart to hear someone speak on our behalf."

― river wolf, Friday, 13 April 2007 17:50 (nineteen years ago)

^^^^ holy fucking shit

― river wolf, Friday, 13 April 2007 17:51 (nineteen years ago)

The white, Anglo-Saxon male, the young teenage guy, is probably the most discriminated against kid on the face of the earth right now.
The white, Anglo-Saxon male, the young teenage guy, is probably the most discriminated against kid on the face of the earth right now.
The white, Anglo-Saxon male, the young teenage guy, is probably the most discriminated against kid on the face of the earth right now.
The white, Anglo-Saxon male, the young teenage guy, is probably the most discriminated against kid on the face of the earth right now.
The white, Anglo-Saxon male, the young teenage guy, is probably the most discriminated against kid on the face of the earth right now.
The white, Anglo-Saxon male, the young teenage guy, is probably the most discriminated against kid on the face of the earth right now.
The white, Anglo-Saxon male, the young teenage guy, is probably the most discriminated against kid on the face of the earth right now.
The white, Anglo-Saxon male, the young teenage guy, is probably the most discriminated against kid on the face of the earth right now.
The white, Anglo-Saxon male, the young teenage guy, is probably the most discriminated against kid on the face of the earth right now.
The white, Anglo-Saxon male, the young teenage guy, is probably the most discriminated against kid on the face of the earth right now.
The white, Anglo-Saxon male, the young teenage guy, is probably the most discriminated against kid on the face of the earth right now.
The white, Anglo-Saxon male, the young teenage guy, is probably the most discriminated against kid on the face of the earth right now.
The white, Anglo-Saxon male, the young teenage guy, is probably the most discriminated against kid on the face of the earth right now.
The white, Anglo-Saxon male, the young teenage guy, is probably the most discriminated against kid on the face of the earth right now.
The white, Anglo-Saxon male, the young teenage guy, is probably the most discriminated against kid on the face of the earth right now.
The white, Anglo-Saxon male, the young teenage guy, is probably the most discriminated against kid on the face of the earth right now.
The white, Anglo-Saxon male, the young teenage guy, is probably the most discriminated against kid on the face of the earth right now.
The white, Anglo-Saxon male, the young teenage guy, is probably the most discriminated against kid on the face of the earth right now.
The white, Anglo-Saxon male, the young teenage guy, is probably the most discriminated against kid on the face of the earth right now.
The white, Anglo-Saxon male, the young teenage guy, is probably the most discriminated against kid on the face of the earth right now.
The white, Anglo-Saxon male, the young teenage guy, is probably the most discriminated against kid on the face of the earth right now.
The white, Anglo-Saxon male, the young teenage guy, is probably the most discriminated against kid on the face of the earth right now.
The white, Anglo-Saxon male, the young teenage guy, is probably the most discriminated against kid on the face of the earth right now.
The white, Anglo-Saxon male, the young teenage guy, is probably the most discriminated against kid on the face of the earth right now.
The white, Anglo-Saxon male, the young teenage guy, is probably the most discriminated against kid on the face of the earth right now.
The white, Anglo-Saxon male, the young teenage guy, is probably the most discriminated against kid on the face of the earth right now.
The white, Anglo-Saxon male, the young teenage guy, is probably the most discriminated against kid on the face of the earth right now.
The white, Anglo-Saxon male, the young teenage guy, is probably the most discriminated against kid on the face of the earth right now.
The white, Anglo-Saxon male, the young teenage guy, is probably the most discriminated against kid on the face of the earth right now.
The white, Anglo-Saxon male, the young teenage guy, is probably the most discriminated against kid on the face of the earth right now.
The white, Anglo-Saxon male, the young teenage guy, is probably the most discriminated against kid on the face of the earth right now.
The white, Anglo-Saxon male, the young teenage guy, is probably the most discriminated against kid on the face of the earth right now.

― river wolf, Friday, 13 April 2007 17:51 (nineteen years ago)

that article makes me tired.

― kenan, Friday, 13 April 2007 17:52 (nineteen years ago)

Funny, I dont feel victimized at all.

― billstevejim, Friday, 13 April 2007 17:52 (nineteen years ago)

xpost I mean, it's the same shit, you know? The illusion of victimhood that's necessary to maintain the moral high ground when all other evidence points away from it.

― kenan, Friday, 13 April 2007 17:53 (nineteen years ago)

Funny, I dont feel victimized at all.

You're not a fundie or a conservative, obv.

― kenan, Friday, 13 April 2007 17:53 (nineteen years ago)

Gays are discriminated against the most as of 2007, obviously. Racism will more than likely cease to exist in 50 years. Anyone who morphs the issues around their own personal agendas should blow their own brains out.

― billstevejim, Friday, 13 April 2007 17:57 (nineteen years ago)

I was taken aback but not outraged.

tracer this is key

― deej, Friday, 13 April 2007 18:00 (nineteen years ago)

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