Using the N-word: Is it a new trend?
According to TMZ.com the quirky comedian from news radio fame and MTV's the Andy Dick show brought everyone to a complete halt when he used the N-word Saturday at L.A.'s Improv comedy club.
Sources say that Dick got onstage during another comedian's performance and started heckling the comic, but as he was leaving the stage he said "you're all a bunch of n******." Apparently no one including the comic thought it was funny.
Although not as popular, Dick is the third celebrity in recent months that has found himself in the hot seat for making racially charged comments.
Comedian, Michael Richards sparked a ton of controversy last month when he used the N-word repeatedly when referring to two black men who attended his stand up performance at the Laugh Factory in West Hollywood. Before that incident, actor Mel Gibson found himself in a tidal wave of bad publicity for the drunken anti-semitic statements that he made towards the Jewish community while being arrested for drunk driving.
While all of these celebrities have offered apologies and excuses for their behavior, are making these types of racist comments becoming acceptable? Are we starting to see a new trend?
If you believe the NAACP then a new trend is exactly what we're seeing.
In a November NAACP press release the organization makes the following statement:
The recent vile, racist tirade of comedian Michael Richards in a Los Angeles night club and anti-Semitic raves by actor/producer/director Mel Gibson earlier this year point to a pervasive trend in American culture.
In the press release Vicangelo Bulluck, director of the NAACP's Hollywood Bureau states "Race and racism are complex, emotional issues in America -- ones we are still reluctant to confront and address."
"What is so disconcerting is these recent racist outbursts are coming from notable personalities that have benefited from the support of millions of minority fans around the world. Their behavior is totally inexcusable because they should know better," says Bullock.
So if the NAACP is right and these celebrities are starting a disturbing new trend in America, then what if anything can be done to keep others, not only celebrities, from following in the same foot steps?
12/06/2006
Instead of writing another article I will add that according to the L.A Times Andy Dick issued this apology through his publicist on Tuesday:
"I chose to make a joke about a subject that is not funny," the statement said. "In an attempt to make light of a serious subject, I have offended a lot of people, and I am sorry for my insensitivity. I wish to apologize to Ian, to the club and its patrons and to anyone who was hurt or offended by my remark."
So there, he used the word, he offended people and he apologized, but don't they all.
Published by Sin Lucas
Sindy is the editor-in-chief for The Silver Tongue. Visit them daily at www.thesilvertongueonline.com. View profile
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13 Comments
Post a CommentI rode freedom buses and marched with Martin Luther King - got a scar from a police dog in Selma - I didn't do all that so we could regress back to this kind of name-calling. Names should never be called on anyone - it is childish, mean and ignorant. If you hear this word used, be sure to make your feelings known.
Words are words, but you have to think what really makes them bad and how they came about. Just the same as any other written or said profanities. Words are words. The way our society is going, one of these days, simple words such as chocolate or calender will be looked at as bad words to say for some reason.
Are we really all that surprised that people use that word. How many of (your) friends would use it or sing it in a song if no one was around. Kids are so stupid today, they use it like "hello" and don't know how hateful it was used in the past and now. And you're right Kelly it can refer to any race or person but its been assoc. to black people. Even though I see and hear how hateful this world is, I truly believe there is more good and love, than bad and hate.
I have to say I'm sick and tired of hearing about this nonsense. For god knows how long, white people have been using racial slurs such as the "N" word meanwhile black people have been calling us whites crackers. It's aggrivating as all hell. I am not a saltine nor have I ever been and what's more if you look up webster's definition of the "N" word you will find that it has nothing to do with race and therefore anyone of any race could be considered one. Everyone really ought to just get over it and stop calling people names based on the color of their skin. it's ridiculous especially in this day and age of enlightenment.
Oh--and, nice article. Thanks!
The way to keep others, celebrities included, from following in the same footsteps is to deprive the word of its power. Giving the users of the word lots of national attention and publicity is NOT the way to make celebrities with flagging careers (or anyone else who wants to be in the spotlight) stop saying it. In fact, giving these people any reaction or attention is giving the word MORE power.
I agree - this word should never be used by anyone, at any time.
I hadn't heard about Andy Dick - but he's just the type to use something that's happening bad in the news and throw it back out there himself. I don't find it funny. There was a movie that came out a couple of years ago that had young children calling each other and the things they did retarded. Suddenly that offensive word became part of slang. There are certain terms within the English language that should only be used in context - the history of their use holds so much ignorance and hate that to use those words flippantly is just wrong. period.
Great Article - thanks for opening the conversation. This phenomenon has bothered me for years - but from a different angle. I ride public transit and am regularly the only caucasian rider aboard. It is my experience that the "N" word is used just as freqently as the "F" word (as punctuation or as a pause). The "N" word appears to also be used exclusively as a term of endearment or friendship or commaraderie. I have been curious about that. Are we to adopt separate dialects which are dependent upon our race, origin, or income class? (I personally am opposed to the use of either of those words - as well as others - but I do not have strength for an exercise in futility.) IMHO the use of either word is NOT ACCEPTABLE in any arena, but most especially by celebrities with microphones. It's like yelling "Fire" in a crowded theatre. It becomes inflammatory and instigates a different form of panic.
Personally I don't like that word or any other that demeans a person or a race or anyone else in that manner. I may be nieve in my thinking compared to others, but I look at the person first and everything else is secondary to me.