Defining Disingenuous

If you haven't been tuned into CNN's nearly continuous coverage of the Michael Richards story for the past week or so, consider yourself lucky.

Ever since the former "Seinfeld" star let loose on some club patrons with a screaming, racist tirade while performing at The Laugh Factory two weekends ago, Hollywood has been seemingly gripped by a rash of mea culpas and politicization that's been nothing but a pain-in-the-ass for me and the rest of my colleagues.

As the story was developing on a week ago Monday, I was roped into contributing to this nonsense by edit-producing four different versions of the same story for four different shows. That was Richards first apology -- the one he was asked by Jerry Seinfeld to give on "The Late Show with David Letterman" while the latter was promoting the Tuesday DVD release of the seventh season of "Seinfeld" on DVD.

That story ended with members of the Black community saying his apology was bullshit; stand-up comic Sinbad even called him a "punk."

For the next few days, Michaels apologized to African American community leaders such as Al Sharpton (who didn't accept) and just about any other Black person who would take his call.

And just when you thought the story had ended there -- with Richards outed as a closet racist and black people shrugging their shoulders, still calling each other niggers or niggas on TV and in music...

BREAKING NEWS: Richards hates Jewish people, too!

Apparently, six months earlier, Richards was doing his stand-up act at The Improv in L.A. when some hecklers caused him to launch into another hate-filled diatribe - this time targeting the Jews.

BREAKING NEWS: Richards IS a Jew.

The fallout from that story - which was handed to me to produce as well - was essentially, nothing. Nobody thought anything of the incident when it happened until they saw the endless loop of Richards' rant against black people.

Meanwhile, the black community is neither accepting his apology nor buying "Seinfeld" season 7 on DVD....

BREAKING NEWS: Richards is going to talk to Jesse Jackson on his syndicated weekend radio show.

And now - Reverend Jackson, joined by comedian Paul Mooney, Democratic representative Maxine Waters and just about every major Black leader has decided that now is the time to launch a campaign against the use of "The N-Word."

BREAKING NEWS: Calling people Nigger or Nigga isn't nice.

So now - after more than 200 years - give or take a few hundred to get a civil rights movement going, the Black community has decided that using "The N-Word" is no longer appropriate?

I'm sorry - at the risk of sounding like a racist, but the whole thing smacks of opportunism.

Richards apology at the behest of his friend Jerry Seinfeld on the eve of the show's latest DVD release...

He had an opportunity to speak on camera to CNN the night after his outburst and declined. Why? Maybe it had something to do with the fact that when we asked him for the interview, the cell-phone video that captured his tantrum hadn't been made public.

And what of Reverends Jackson, Sharpton and the rest? Their agenda - though noble, seems contrived. If "The N-Word" is so powerful and so hateful, why wait for a washed up TV star to lose his shit on stage and hope that the incident is captured on a grainy cell-phone video to launch your campaign to heal all the hatred in the world? It's not as if there aren't enough references to niggers/niggas in film and music - perpetrated by African Americans no less - to use as a foundation for a campaign for decency.

Disingenuous
Function: adjective
lacking in candor; also : giving a false appearance of simple frankness

Michael Richards said on Letterman that he was "all busted up over this." Was he really "busted up" over this - or just the fact that he was busted on camera and that his bottom line might take the hit where he should've taken one on the lip.

Much of the chatter from the African American community leaders has revolved around setting an example for the youth by educating them about the hatred associated with "The N-Word." If the idea is to lead by example -- you can start by actually doing the work -- instead of waiting for the opportunity to do the work.