Political correctness hits the black entertainment industry

Remember last year when Bro. Michael Richards, the actor who played Kramer on Seinfeld, went into an on-stage rant, repeatedly using the word "nigger"?

(I don't normally use that word, but I'm not going to be politically correct and call it the "n-word." The word appears again in this article, so be prepared. News and commentary shouldn't stoop to euphemisms. It's not intellectually honest. And it can be confusing.)

The world was righteously, and perhaps rightfully, offended at Bro. Richards' stage-rage. We didn't hear much from the Masonic world on the issue, though.

Back when it was in the news, and all over the blogosphere, some people were asking, "Why can't he use that word, when black comedians and rappers use it over and over without catching any heat?"

The heat has finally been turned up on black entertainers. Last Friday, black comedian Eddie Griffin, who has appeared in movies such as Undercover Brother and Date Movie and the TV show Malcolm & Eddie, was performing at a Black Enterprise magazine event in the Miami suburb of Doral when he was cut off after using profanities and the word nigger.

"We believe that ending the performance was the appropriate action," Andrew Wadium, a spokesman for the magazine said.

The CNN article doesn't say whether the crowd of approximately 1,000, whom I assume were mostly black, were laughing at the comic or booing him for his choice of words.

Bro. Al Sharpton, who attended a meeting with Black Enterprise executives but not the performance, said the crowd applauded when the performance was stopped.

He and fellow Mason Bro. Jesse Jackson have been urging entertainers for months not to disrespect African-Americans by using the word.

Bro. Jackson, you may remember, showed his respect for cultural diversity by referring to Jews as "Hymies" and New York City as "Hymietown" in an interview with a black reporter in 1984.

(See what I mean about how being politically correct can be confusing? If I'd said the "n-word" instead of the real word, then to be politically correct and racially fair and sensitive, I would have had to refer to Bro. Jackson as having called Jews the "H-word" and NYC as "H-town," and no one under 35 would have known what the "other H-word" I was talking about.)


Words | Politically Correct | Eddie Griffin | Michael Richards | N-word | Burning Taper | BurningTaper.com