Imagined conversation between two Americans last week:
American 1: Hey, uh, so didja see that Kramer dude use the N-word?
American 2: Like, no — where?
American 1: It’s on the Internets. He was doing stand-up and like lost it or something.
American 2: Shut up! [pushes American 1]
American 1: For reals, yo.
American 2: Dude, that’s like, not OK.
American 1: Dude, I know.
American 2: It’s, like, really wrong to use that word.
American 1: No kidding.
American 2: Maybe everyone in the entertainment industry should boycott it or something.
American 1: I was just thinking that myself. For surely that will solve the ongoing problem of race relations in this country. I am certain, in fact, that semantics are the biggest problem facing society today.
American 2: I am enraged.
American 1: Me too.
American 2: …
American 1: …
American 2: So, like, whaddaya want to do now?
American 1: Uh… I hear the seventh season of Seinfeld is out on DVD — wanna go buy it?
American 2: Totally!
American 1: Cool!
Now repeat this conversation however many times it takes to equal a 75 percent sales increase over Season 6 and… scene!
Comments (1-30) of 38 Add your comment
I’m sorry Jesse Jackson….but you have gone too far.
Maybe people are confused about the meaning of “boycott,” as “Bill O’Reilly” was in SNL’s spoof a couple of weeks ago…
As for why sales have gone up, I don’t know. If people suddenly just decided that they wanted to watch Seinfeld to see Richards they could have tuned in to any number of channels between 6 and 8 and caught a rerun. So who knows the reasoning for buying the set.
That being said– I don’t think the answer is not watching Seinfeld or not buying the box set if you want it. While I may never look at Kramer the same again, no sense in punishing Jerry Seinfeld for something one of his co-stars did. Kramer isn’t the star character of the show and Richards wasn’t the creative force behind it. It’s not the same as boycotting Apocalypto because of Mel Gibson– who is clearly the driving force behind that movie.
Not surprised. People will do anything for publicity, and more money.
i am a black female and personally never, ever use the N-word, because I think there is absolutely no way that word can be untainted from its derogatory past. that being said, i think ’seinfeld’ is one of the best, if not the best show television has ever produced, and so the antics of a psychologically challenged (and possibly racist) actor should not mar what the sales of what is a worthy product in a ’seinfeld’ dvd. for me cosmo kramer is a character removed from michael richards, and i must say, i’ve always liked kramer.
Michael Richards’ rant is about Michael Richards. It has absolutely nothing to do with the sitcom Seinfeld.
The Washingtonpost had two op eds that I thought brought up great points about this debacle. First, one of their columnists pointed out that the “good” side to this is that we’ve pretty much seen national condemnation of the recent comments made by Mr. Cosmo Kramer and by Mad Max. Maybe 10 years ago a lot of people would have said “that’s not a big deal”. Nowadays there’s a near total condemnation of these guys for acting like jackasses.
The other article talked about how the real problem is that a lot of hatred still exists in America, and that a lot of people just cover it up without trying to learn why we need to lose the biases that keep us all down.
When Kramer went on David Letterman, it was Kramer who was on screen not Michael Richards. The audience couldn’t help but laugh because he was playing the puzzled face baffoon he plays on T.V.
Personally, I think this was all a set up. Mel Gibson set the bar; if he can get away with it, anybody can.
It’s also the holiday season. With so many Seinfeld fans in the world, I’m sure some of that spike is due to early Christmas shoppers.
Granted, this whole debacle brought back an old sitcom back into the limelight.
It was an ignorant statement Jesse “cheated on his wife and has an illigitimate child” to demand the DVD be boycotted. Jerry got on Letterman and issued a statement which was fine with my BLACK daughter who loves the show. She even changed her mind on Richards after we discussed what rappers etc get away with. As I have said Richards thought he was doing Chris Rock’s version of what constitutes a N%$$# to get back at the hecklers. He needs to call Chris and learn the rules of comedy. I’m pissed Jesse is getting all this ego PR he craves!
The mash-ups continue, too:
http://zine.nationallampoon.com/index.php?option=com_jambozine&layout=article&view=page&aid=247&Itemid=32
My humble opinion:
The use of the word was offensive. As a black man, I find it offensive when anyone uses that word, regardless of their race. As a human, I am equally offended when anyone uses a term that is deemed derogatory against a certain group of people. There is a racist term for every race on this earth, and they all should be viewed as hate speech and should not be used, especially by people in the public eye.
That being said, in regards to this particular situation, I was more offended by the statement that a few years ago the gentlemen in the audience would be hanging from a tree (I papaphrase here). To me that is more than just using a word that is taboo, that is glorifying a chapter in history that many have fought hard to condemn and overcome.
Should we boycott the series? I don’t know, that is a personal choice. But a mere apology does not erase the disappointment that comes from the realization that black people’s money has been helping support someone who reminds them at one time they were hanging in trees.
There are far more people involved with the making of this DVD than Michael Richards. Why should they all be punished for one man’s mistake?
Boycott or no, Richards isn’t exactly desparate for money. Didn’t all the Seinfeld cast members get $1 million per episode for the show’s last season? Unless he’s married to Kevin Federline, Michael Richards should still have a decent % of that money left.
That said, Mr. Jackson’s time is better spent taking to task the producers at CBS, who don’t seem to want any people of color in any of their sitcoms. Old Christine, How I met your Mother, King of Queens, The Class, where are the brown or black people on these urban based shows? It seems CBS’s only show with a brother is “Jericho” and he’s made into some sort of magical mysterious uncle remus.
Flip that to NBC. My Name is Earl (which is about “white trash” culture), The Office, 30 Rock, Scrubs, Friday Night Lights all have significant contributions from actors of color, and NBC’s sci fi shows like Heroes, Eureka and BSG feature incredibly diverse casts. ABC’s Lost was the first show in recent memory to feature show an Asian man with sex appeal. Fox and the CW have been good about diversity for a while too.
So while calling out folks for saying “Ninja” is important, why not call out the shows that refuse to integrate their casts? Mr. Jackson’s efforts would better serve us all if he focused on making a real change instead of a band aid solution.
Here is my take on it. Season 7 was one of the best, it includes the Soup Nazi. I don’t blame the show for the mistake of Michael Richards. I’m not a Michael Richards fan, I never have been. I liked Kramer, but I loved the show. Did anyone ever see the movie Trial & Error with Mr. Richards? People should’ve been outraged after that piece of junk came out!
Ep, have you ever watched an episode of any of the CSI? Each of them has ramped up the diversity over their run, but they all started with at least one black regular cast member (Gary Dourdan on Vegas, Khandi Alexander on Miami and Hill Harper in NY) with other minorities represented in recurring roles. Also, doesn’t Wanda Sykes have a role on “Old Christine”? Last I checked, she was black; I assume she still is. I think it might be time to retire that old chestnut. Besides, I know that it’s a significantly lower percentage of the population, but how many Jewish characters do you find on TV? If you can currently go higher than two hands counting them, let me know.
I read that Mel Gibson said he felt bad for Richards or something…I can just imagine Richards saying, “Don’t help me!”
Maybe all of the racist people in the world are buying all of the DVD’s?
LOL. It’s no coincidence that Mel “I own Malibu” Gibson is now jumping up and down for more attention by coming out and supporting Kramer (who probably is mortified by that). Two hated haters in one story, wow~. His movie is going down the drain, so light bulb on … do some old fashioned minority bashing and try to ramp up those lagging ticket sales.
So in a hilariously twisted way Mel thinks Kramer’s problem presents a great chance to hype some more. Let’s all turn the tables on him from now until uhhhhh Jay Leno stops. There are a lot to be found in a humor site I like at http://www.humor-and-jokes.com/Celebrities/ . Mel and Kramer purgatory together. Lol.
Suzy… way to take a single line from a four hour interview and blow it out of disproportionate context.
Could it be… that a Seinfeld collection is not complete unless it has “The Soup Nazi” episode?
everybody who cares about this topic, including whitney, should check out john ridley’s op-ed “no more edicts, jesse” from today’s la times. it is the most level headed commentary on this issue i have read. very thought provoking.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-ridley30nov30,0,5914733.story?coll=la-home-commentary
Ep – not to mention that on King of Queens, Doug (the main character) has a black best friend, Deacon. That character has been a regular since episode 1. And his wife and two children are recurring characters. Plus, he is actually funnier than Doug (IMHO).
Sykes was later added to the show and was not an original character on Christine. I can’t say anything about CSI (I don’t watch the series), and stand corrected on “King of Queens”. However, that seems to be the extent of CBS’s diversity and that, IMHO, remains a problem.
Just a post regarding CBS diversity. I started thinking about their shows to see how diverse they are. They are more diverse than you think.
Amazing Race: usually features several different ethnicities and backgrounds.
Cold Case: African American and Latino cast, 1 recurring African American
Without a Trace: African American, Latino, and Latina cast members
CSIs: noted above
Survivor: All seasons have diverse casts. This season, 2/3 of the contestants were non-white
Ghost Whisperer: African American cast member last season, thankfully now free to find a bigger role that she deserves
Close to Home: African American cast member
So, not a bad track record.
But the soaps on all 3 networks still lag way behind.
It’s no surprise that Seinfeld’s season 7 DVD is doing so well, because that’s the season George gets engaged and the gang gets harassed by none other than The Soup Nazi, easily one of the show’s most popular episodes. To attempt to draw a line from the DVD sales to Richards’ rant, with no evidence linking the two, almost implies that those DVD-buying Seinfeld fans don’t care about the rant, and that’s irresponsible. Also, Jesse Jackson needs to get a clue. While I agree that a frank discussion needs to be had about the use of the n word in our pop culture and society, how the heck does boycotting a DVD accomplish anything remotely close to that? Why not focus on the pervasive use of the word, the reasons behind said use, why it is wrong, and what can actually be done to address it?
On the flipside: Survivor decided to pit all the ethnicities against each other after being called out for its lack of diversity, and Christine’s “diversity” occured I’d guess out of the same issue. How I met you mother’s got no brown folks and takes place in NYC.
I’m not trying to say we need to boycott anyone, but would argue diversity on tv is still a bigger issue than some morons using inappropriate language and a focus on this would do more than any boycott.
Cheers.
Honestly, what more can we do to ban the n-word? Since I was a kid, using the n-word guaranteed a beat-down, and not by African-Americans, but by any sane adult in the proximity. When I heard Richards’ rant, I was shocked because I thought, “Who thinks these things?” This clearly is something Richards has to deal with, but Jesse Jackson is dreaming if he thinks that banning a DVD will change things. That’s like thinking that Congress can legislate sexuality, or that the government can legislate God out of society. Good luck with that, because it ain’t gonna happen.
nac and Joel said it all. It was a fantastic show and a fantastic season. I personally watch for Seinfeld’s acting, which was the best in the beginning when he was all kinds of awkward. Boycotting Seinfeld because of him isn’t right.
I had a dream the hamburger was eating ME!
When the Seinfeld Season sets were first released on DVD, they cost about $60 each. Last week many retailers had them on special, I believeI saw Season 1-4 for $14.88 each at soem retailers. Tha makes them less expensive than some single DVD releases
I pre-ordered the DVD before the controversy started. If Jerry Seinfeld had made the statements, I probably would have sent them back. I do find myself repulsed at the site of Kramer when before all he had to do was enter a scene and say “Giddy Up” for me to laugh.