Michael Richards
| Michael Richards |
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| Original YTMND: |
| Kramer may be a racist... |
| by DIGIHAD |
| November 20, 2006 |
| Worthy Spinoffs: |
Michael Richards is an actor/stand-up comic best known for his role in the hit NBC sitcom Seinfeld as Cosmo Kramer. During the weekend of November 19th, 2006, during one of his stand-up shows, Richards went on a racist tirade after 2 African-American members in the audience criticized him. The tirade featured a huge number of racial slurs and caused controversy soon after the news was discovered.
Moments after a videotape emerged on YouTube, YTMNDers quickly took advantage and made a fad very quickly, many of them racial of nature. While many of them worked by putting Richards' comments into the context of his Seinfeld character (Kramer Kills Negroes!, Cause of Kramer's Racism), a few others made reference to his role in the film UHF as Stanley Spadowski (Stanley Spudowski's Clubhouse, Racist Michael Richards and his firehose). Other sites recontextualized his comments altogether for humourous effect (such as Meatwad's Kramer Comedy Act Tribute).
Richards would apologise for his actions in an interview via satellite with David Letterman (his long time friend Jerry Seinfeld was Letterman's in-studio guest). Many people in the audience laughed for brief moments during the interview before being cautioned to stop by Seinfeld. The apology itself served as another resource for YTMND, both on its own (It's insane, he's not even racist!) and in combination with his original remarks (Kramer Rap 3.0).
