So I finally wasted a good 3 minutes of my life that I’ll never get back watching Michael Richard’s career burst into flames on Google Video. Now he’s been on the apology circuit for a good week or two now since the meltdown hit the airwaves, culminating in a ridiculous interview with Jesse Jackson. Honestly? I think the whole thing was staged.
The guy hasn’t done anything original or entertaining since UHF, so we’re talking nearly 20 years of a downward spiral in the entertainment industry. With Seinfeld Season 7 coming out, Seinfeld and Larry David’s continued success, and the memories of Kramer still over-ruling the superior performance of Stanley Spidowski in UHF- he called in a favor.
Someone told him to flip out on an audience at one of his standup gigs, toss out some racist terms which are totally outside his usual character – then he’d be put on the apology circuit for free publicity… plain and simple. Only thing is – as clearly demonstrated by how Richards handled the situation and legitimately got SCARED – he has no talent.
How do I know it’s staged? Mel Gibson. Mel Gibson is hated in Hollywood due to his religious and political beliefs. Prior to his outburst at a pair of CHP’s every interview included a mention of his father’s distasteful beliefs – so any opportunity to bury him under a pile of media nonsense was exploited. His transgressions against the politically correct received MUCH more coverage than the apology.
All in all, this ploy will fail, Richards will continue to be a talentless hack destined to play the role of the village idiot better than any other actor – because he’s not acting. I’ve wasted enough time on this story – NEXT.