You KNOW we’re living in a ridiculously litigious society when people who are insulted with reprehensible racial insults by a bombing and flailing comedian get a lawyer and suggest they want money.
Two men who say they were insulted by actor-comedian Michael Richards during his racist rant at a comedy club want a personal apology and maybe some money, their lawyer said Friday.
And do you think the lawyer is someone who has not been in the media? The name seems familiar:
The men, Frank McBride and Kyle Doss, said they were part of a group of about 20 people who had gathered at West Hollywood’s Laugh Factory to celebrate a friend’s birthday. According to their attorney, Gloria Allred, they were ordering drinks when Richards berated them for interrupting his act.
When one of their group replied that he wasn’t funny, Richards launched into a string of obscenities and repeatedly used the n-word. A video cell phone captured the outburst.
Richards, who played Jerry Seinfeld’s wacky neighbor Kramer on the TV sitcom “Seinfeld,” made a nationally televised apology on David Letterman’s “Late Night” show earlier this week. He has since apologized to civil rights leaders the Rev. Jesse Jackson and the Rev. Al Sharpton.
But Allred complained Friday that he “has not apologized to his victims directly, face to face, man to man.”
Fair enough.
But since when did anyone in a comedy club get legal representation and try to force the issue via the legal system — even if the comedian used a hateful word? We haven’t heard of many cases of this. And a Google search doesn’t show a flood of them.
Were the doors in the club locked so that the now-clients — most assuredly abused verbally by Richards, a comedic actor whose career will (rightfully) never, ever rise again — could not get out of the club? You think that’s a silly question?
Richards’ publicist said his client wants to apologize to both men, who are black, but hasn’t been able to locate them.
Allred, speaking by phone from Colorado, said Richards should meet McBride and Doss in front of a retired judge to “acknowledge his behavior and to apologize to them” and allow the judge to decide on monetary compensation.
“It’s not enough to say ‘I’m sorry,'” she said.
She did not mention a specific figure, but pitched the idea as a way for the comic to avoid a lawsuit.
“Our clients were vulnerable,” Allred said. “He went after them. He singled them out and he taunted them, and he did it in a closed room where they were captive.”
“Captive”??
So there was a lock on the door?
Was this a comedy club or was it actually one of those interrogation facilities defended by Vice President Dick “Cover Your Face Now” Cheney?
Hopefully all comedians — including the many (which includes virtually all in the United States) who have condemned Richards will be equally vocal in making it known that they don’t support this lawsuit.
If we’ve reached a time in show business where someone who feels wronged by a joke, a stupid comment, or a racial insult can then take the comedian to court (even if the comedian is one who in the future should stay away from comedy clubs and give up the stage time to younger comics who NEED the stage time and are more responsible) then what will happen in the FUTURE is what will always happen:
A court ruling will mean people will hire more lawyers to go after more people.
And the envelope will be pushed more. And more. And more. Until there’s more PC. And more.
Yours truly does family shows from coast to coast. I can just see the day when some 2nd grader sues me at a school because my dummy stuck his tongue out at them during my famous “hypnosis” routine. My elephant puppet squirts water into fair audiences. How many millions will a 10 year old with a lawyer beside him seek for that?
NOTE: Read the chain link posts below. I am VERY critical of Richards and don’t think he should be allowed on a comedy club stage again. I also did a post showing how his abusive method of handling hecklers is part of the comedy club culture. Re-read all of my posts before emailing me how I’m defending him; if you email me saying that or put it in comments, then you need glasses.
If a comedy club patron can sue then all comedians better beware. If a black comedian aims any kind of a comment at a white audience member, it’ll be Judge Judy Time. Insult humor will soon be curtailed because one court ruling leads to another court ruling until the most of that genre is a no-no.
Usually if someone hates an act, they leave.
Usually if a performer goes over the line, he suffers in his/her career.
BOTH THINGS happened in this comedy club incident.
But, then, perhaps we’re in a new century where it’s smarter than ever to become a lawyer.
Because the ambulance chasing lawyer will be replaced by a new one: the lawyer waiting in the comedy club audience…looking for new clients who feel personally offended or perhaps offended as a group.
And that’s no laughing matter.
MORE STORIES ON RICHARDS (which show he is being soundly condemned):
Jamie Foxx Threatens Michael Richards Over Racist Remarks
Washington Post’s Eugene Robinson
Richards’ rant leaves no doubt he’s a racist
Richards of ‘Seinfeld’ hires PR guy
Richards phones black leaders
Michael Richards Calls Kim Jong-Il a 2 bit blankety blank 4 Foot Leaping Gnome (satire)
Michael Richards What Do You Want from Jesse and Al? A Cookie?
UPDATE: Some other reaction. These are excerpts so please click on the links and read the entire posts.
—Ed Morrissey:
Perhaps I missed this in the never-ending press coverage that accompanies the legal profession, but when did extortion become legal? Allred has publicly threatened Richards, telling him to bring his checkbook or she will file a lawsuit against him. For all intents and purposes, this is extortion, and Allred should be facing an ethics investigation for her bald-faced threats.
Don’t get me wrong; Richards disgusted me with his racist rant. He claimed in his rambling and unconvincing apology on Letterman not to be a racist, but anyone who screams “N****r!” several times at the top of his voice while reacting to adverse reaction on stage pretty much qualifies himself as such. He’s embarrassed and humiliated himself and his community of performers, and deserves the ostracization that will undoubtedly come soon.
“Captive�? Hardly. As with everyone else in the club, they were free to get up and leave at any time. And they were hardly “vulnerable� by any means. After all, there were 20 of them, and one of him. Do the frickin’ math.
Regardless of all that, though, they have every right to demand an apology. But money? I don’t see how they can ask for that. He didn’t break any laws, as I’ve said, and they said some stuff right back to him. As for a lawsuit, well…I’m not a lawyer, so I have no idea on what grounds they could sue. Defamation of character, perhaps? Anyone?
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.