Time for me to join the fray on this one. If you haven't heard about this story yet, go and watch the two most uncomfortable Youtube videos of all time:
[WARNING: This is seriously offensive stuff.]
Clip 1(Michael Richards' racist explosion)
Clip 2 (Michael Richards' apology on the Tonight Show)
I don't know where he was performing when he did this, but he's lucky it wasn't Cincinnati. He would have been shot. On stage.
People are raging all over the internet about this, and rightfully so. Pledges to boycott the Seinfeld series abound, along with more angry commentary than this blogger cares to read. I cannot condemn that anger, and actions like a boycott are reasonable and appropriate. I will not be joining the furious mob however.
When I watched those videos, I did not see a man baring his racist heart. I saw a performer who uses improvisation, extremely high energy, and offensive remarks as a part of his act, who lost control. In the age of 'Borat', 'the Aristocrats', and 'Jackass' this humor is not new territory or subject to debate. Given the energy levels and the improvisational nature of his set, that is a volatile situation to begin with. Many of us have seen comedians "lose it" in an act like that, and completely lose their audience.
In this instance Michael Richards lost it, and in the process picked on a group of hecklers in the audience. He hit them with over the top, racial jokes that flopped, and only made the situation worse. Now no one was laughing, AND the hecklers were angry - and Richards (as he puts it on Letterman) "flew into a rage."
Have you ever been "in a rage"? I mean so furious that you are completely beyond your own control? Where you are blindly defensive - and offensive - about something you would normally never defend? If you're defending "the Aristocrats", you will scream and yell about the appropriateness of <insert heinous sexual act here>. If you're defending a racial joke - well we saw what happens.
Like it or not, we are all capable of terrible acts like this one, just as we're all capable of murder, given the right (or wrong) circumstances. Perhaps this is a perspective unique to acting, since on the stage you have to be aware of those terrible dark corners of the psyche. Often you have to use them, and even in the controlled environment of the stage that is a frightening process. I cannot imagine ever using that in an improvised act.
In that Letterman appearance, I see a man who is utterly shattered by his own actions. If you have ever lost control and damaged your life and those around you that way, you would recognize that face. Talk to someone who's been at fault in a major or fatal car accident. It takes days and months of serious introspection - and often years of therapy - to come to terms with that kind of action. Imagine having that dark place in your psyche that is capable of such terrible actions take over, and maybe you can understand the fear and shock that Richards must be going through. I know that feeling, because I remember it from an episode in my own life.
This does not mean that I dismiss the seriousness of his actions. It is, as I said, right for people to be angry, to boycott his work, and to feel such great indignation. Mr. Richards seems to be extremely apologetic, but is taking the lashback as his due for his own actions, which is also right. Personally, I understand that an individual episode like this does not necessarily define a man. As a viewer, I am willing to give Mr. Richards the opportunity to regain my respect. But it will take time, and I would not expect most people to be so forgiving of such an awful tirade.
