hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
that was hilarious!!!!!

i think the context makes the difference, like if someone says "hey my nigger" or "i'm a nigger" then thats fair cause no-one means it to be hurtful. but he says it with VENOM he means it to hurt, to insult and to provoke an upset and shocked reaction. he did it because he was angry and meant it as an insult not a description.

Absolutely.

Of course, the next step could be discussing if he's really a racist. But concerning this, WickedBuddhi already made a good point, and finally: We don't know. What we do know is that he used this word in a discriminating way and that already stands for itself.

Noticed how the audience after hesitating for a moment first laughed insecurely at his words, but how this reaction was more and more displaced by shock when they realised that he wasn't performing anymore? It takes a while to realise that the comedian you see on stage actually goes totally frantic because of an interjection.

I just missed one of those cool bass licks from Seinfeld when he left the stage

I think the anti-racism is going too far. I'm not saying that racism is a good thing or something, not at all. But people see racist things everywhere even when there's nothing racist intended. (It's like feminists who are fighting for equal rights and at the same time want men suppressed).

Take the Dutch tradition of Sinterklaas for example. Sinterklaas (or Sint Nicolaas, which is Saint Niclas) is the origin of Santa Claus. He was some kind of bishop (of Mira, Turkey IIRC) who gave presents to the poor children on his birthday, instead of accepting presents himself. In The Netherlands we processed that into the habit of giving all the kids presents on the 5th of December.
Thing is, Sinterklaas had some 'helpers' called Zwarte Pieten or Black Petes. Of course, those used to be slaves hundreds of years ago but nowadays, they are just part of the Sinterklaas tradition like the elves are the helpers of Santa Claus (I think?).
Anyway, there are people now that think that it's racist that all Black Petes are black, and they want White Petes as well. Which is total nonsense, because the little kids that believe Sinterklaas is true, will never be able to link Black Pete to slavery and such, they don't even think about the color of his skin because they are told it's from the soot of the chimney (yes he comes down the chimney to deliver the presents).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinterklaas)

Another thing is the 'negerzoen', a kind of cookie consisting of a little waffle, wit heaps of whipped cream on it and a thin layer of chocolate (not sure it exists outside The Netherlands). The Dutch name 'negerzoen' means something like black man's kiss or negro's kiss. Now they had to change that name into something else because certain people thought it was racist. It's the name of a cookie ffs and it's had that name forever! It just happens to have that name because it has a brown color, maybe we should name it a shit kiss then? In fact, negerzoen is a compliment because those cookies are delicious!!!!

Total madness

"Fifty years ago you'd have been hung upside-down with a fork up your ass!"

And people are saying he isn't racist? Or, this is 2006, lighten up already? Black people have good reason to be offended. When a white person calls a black person a nigger, in a hurtful and spiteful way, they are basically taking the dark history of slavery and shoving it in the person's face; "Remember, we used to OWN you!"

[JuZ]

The whole thing made me feel pretty uncomfortable. Upside down with a fork in your ass? WTF? This bloke's clearly got a few issues happenin' in the ol' noggin'.

I get your point, Biert. Sometimes people trying to demonstrate their anti-racism attitude just express it the wrong way, which can really lead to some ridiculous discussions. I know your "negerzoen", in Germany it's (no wait, it was!) called "Negerkuss", and that's a good (and tasty...!) example of what you mean.

But the thing is, though generally being about the same topic, this thread isn't about finding politically correct names for sweets. As far as I'm concerned, seeing this video didn't exactly make my heart stop beating, but I can absolutely understand people who get really really angry about this. This is on a totally different level and can't be explained or excused with traditions as in the examples you named.

The apology, for what it's worth:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5eZqtb1hZw

The apology, for what it's worth:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5eZqtb1hZw

damn, he's crazy


and another thing
i have two grandparents who are black (not blood relatives, but i consider them my grandparents as if they were), and i live in a country which is mainly mixed, and it's a kind of sad/bizarre thing people have to stutter and think 3 times before talking about someone's color.

Some time ago there were these shirts that were very popular here, that had "100% black" printed on them. To me, honestly, that's as much bullshit as "100% white", or white pride, or black pride or whatever pride
i mean, it's a smaller factor, it's the number of melanin you have in your body. Why the hell wont people wear a shirt saying "100% 2 eyes, a nose and a mouth"? Cause culture is fucked up, all around the world. Shouldn't people be proud of their history? Sure as hell they should, but reducing that solely to color issues and using that to drive even more pseudo-segregational talk is completely brainless.

If you want to be 100% something, your bloodline will eventually get caught in some natural selection process in the next few thousand years, so thankfully, i hope that kind of mindset shouldn't last too long.

But hey, we're humanity, we fucking rule, we can find a new reason to hate each other with more ease than taking a piss. Anyway, i'm kinda randomly ranting, so i'll just say "please educate your children so my children can have people that don't suck to talk to" or something

I guess what sucks from his standpoint is that if their uh skin colors were reversed and he called the guy a cracker, people would have ate it up.

dumb thing to do for sure but he obviously was just trying to piss the guy off. i'd still shake his hand.

and honestly it's way more common to hear 'colored' people being racist. i don't really understand why the only thing people ever notice is when a white guy calls a black man a nigger.

I guess what sucks from his standpoint is that if their uh skin colors were reversed and he called the guy a cracker, people would have ate it up.

dumb thing to do for sure but he obviously was just trying to piss the guy off. i'd still shake his hand.

and honestly it's way more common to hear 'colored' people being racist. i don't really understand why the only thing people ever notice is when a white guy calls a black man a nigger.

Because white people have no reason to be offended when someone calls them a cracker or a honkey. We were never enslaved, never made to sit on the back of the bus or to attend separate schools. You'll notice that there aren't many ghettos filled with impoverished white people in the States. There is no history of racism against white people; therefore, racist comments against white people have no weight.

And if he was just trying to piss the guy off, why did he not realize that his comments would piss off every other black person in the crowd, and many of the white people too? And why did he need to remind the guy that 50 years ago, he might be swinging from a tree for heckling a white man?

If anything, it just proves that he's a lousy comic. He wasn't able to come up with an original, funny comeback to the heckling, so he attacked the guy on the meanest, most basic level, while insulting black people at large.

It's also interesting to see how many people are trying to downplay the whole thing...

Wow, that was quite sad to watch...

Although he seems sincere while apologizing, he can't take back the fact that he had that kind of bullshit in him.

Because white people have no reason to be offended when someone calls them a cracker or a honkey. We were never enslaved, never made to sit on the back of the bus or to attend separate schools. You'll notice that there aren't many ghettos filled with impoverished white people in the States. There is no history of racism against white people; therefore, racist comments against white people have no weight.

Yeah, I know that. But it's in the past. Racism is dumb and if it's going to be weeded out of society, it has to start with forgetting about the past.

And if he was just trying to piss the guy off, why did he not realize that his comments would piss off every other black person in the crowd, and many of the white people too? And why did he need to remind the guy that 50 years ago, he might be swinging from a tree for heckling a white man?

Yeah, but he obviously wasn't thinking. It was a dumb thing to do but I'm sure everyone has lost their cool at some point and said something they really really regret. I am not saying what he did was okay, but I personally think it's something that can and should be forgiven. Likely though, this has just fucked up his career and you'd hate to see that.

If anything, it just proves that he's a lousy comic. He wasn't able to come up with an original, funny comeback to the heckling, so he attacked the guy on the meanest, most basic level, while insulting black people at large.

In fairness to him, I don't think he was trying to be funny. He seemed pretty pissed off at the time the video picked up.

It's also interesting to see how many people are trying to downplay the whole thing...

Because things like this are always blown out of proportion. It's not like he killed a man... No, he lost his temper and started attacking a guy verbally. He might as well have killed someone, at least then his career wouldn't be fucked.

I feel sorry for the guy.

You're probably right, but surely these days people should have enough awareness to realise that if they scream that word at somebody - it will most likely be interpreted as a racial slur.

Sure. But in the heat of the moment most people don't think rationally. Ever call a woman a "cunt" because you wanted to piss her off? If not, don't. EVER!

yeah earlier she beat me at mario kart...

Shouldn't people be proud of their history?

Why should I be proud of something I didn't have any influence in? At all? Should I really be proud of my country's history, especially the era from Bismarck's retirement up to the end of World War II? Should I be proud of my Nazi grandfather? Proud of Verdun? Guernica? Coventry, Warschau and Auschwitz?

Or at least proud of the more positive aspects of my country's history; our constitution or the german "economic miracle" in the 60ies? I was born in 1972 and I didn't influence anything back then. And although I'm a social democrat, I'm not proud of "my" ex-chancellor Schröder's decision not to join the "coalition of the willing" to envade Iraq. It was a good decision, but it was his decision, not mine - and he made plenty of bad decisions, too.

What am I then? I'm happy to be born in a stable, wealthy and relatively open and relatively peaceful (specially considering our past) western society. And I love my country. But I'm not "proud" to be a german "national subject".

Anyway, to quote Grip Inc.'s Gus Chambers: "All blood runs red."