by Malden Snail

Created on: May 27, 2007

Quite often part of an incident is focussed on and the context in which it occurs is completely overlooked.

Yes, Andy Dick did say "You're all a bunch of niggers" but there is more to the incident than that. Dick wasn't performing and had heckled Ian Bagg before joining him on stage, where Michael Richards became a discussion point.

For those who aren't familiar with the incident, during a performance at the Laugh Factory, Michael Richards retaliated to a heckler by pointing and shouting, "Throw his ass out. He's a nigger. He's a nigger. He's a nigger. A nigger. Look, there's a nigger!" Naturally, the audience was shocked and many people walked out, arguing with Richards while doing so. Although he tried to pull himself out of the hole, Richards only managed to dig himself deeper with his further responses of "They're going to arrest me for calling a black man a nigger?" ... "Cracker-ass? You calling me cracker-ass, nigger?" ... "It's a big threat. That's how you get back at the man." ... "That's what happens when you interrupt the white man, don't you know?" Finally saying, "You see, there's still those words, those words, those words" before having to leave the stage amid the increasing vocal anger of people in the audience.

There can be no argument that Michael Richards' outburst was purely racist and stemmed from his anger and frustration at being repeatedly heckled. In this incident a man is specifically using a racist term as a weapon to attack someone. There are numerous ways to deal with a heckler and a seasoned performer should be able to do so without resorting racist attacks.

Worth a mention is the audience response, because that is very relevant. When Richard's began his attack there were people laughing because it looked like a crazy Krameresque outburst. But as the tirade continued, the laughter stopped and was replaced by either silence or aggressive shouting.

So what was Andy Dick's real indiscretion? Was he seriously calling the audience "a bunch of niggers" or was it a reference to Michael Richards that was supposed to be funny? There are a lot of ways I would refer to Dick, but racist is not one of them. He is a comedian who is constantly testing limits and the boundaries of what is acceptable. This is not the only incident where Dick's behaviour has tested boundaries, some may remember him being physically carried off the set of the Jimmy Kimmel show for repeatedly touching Ivanka Trump.

The problem is not the word itself, but the context in which

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