Stopped watching Seinfeld
I made the decision to stop watching Seinfeld this week. I was a really big fan of the show and I’ve probably seen every espisode atleast 6 or 7 times now. I didn’t decide to stop watching the show because of Michael Richard’s racist rants. Kramer is my favorite character on the show, my only concern was whether I could look at the character the same way. But I couldn’t care less about Michael Richard himself. No, this is the video that made me decide to stop watching Seinfeld. After seeing this, it just made me feel like “Well, I’ve gotten the best out of the show, time to move on.”
I think I’ll watch more politically correct shows like South Park and Dave Chapelle.
December 8th, 2006 at 7:53 am
Don’t mean to be controversial, but I’d have to say I disagree with you as far as that video goes. Although I get where the guy’s coming from and he’s certainly pretty funny, I don’t find the situation as he explained it to be objectionable. I mean, this is comedy. I, too, am a Seinfield fan and (I haven’t seen the episode in question… I think) I can picture this episode happening. Seems like it certainly would have been a funny choice to have the “pool boy” be hispanic. Just because it is the stereotype doesn’t mean that it never happens. Reverse racism and extreme PC-ism are becoming somewhat of a problem today in my opinion. There is another episode of Seinfeld where Jerry dates a woman of native american decent. In that episode they made a similar point when Jerry got in trouble for asking a postman who happened to be Chinese (or of Chinese decent) where a Chinese resturaunt was. I mean, when you watch the show it is a comentary on life. It is supposed to be funny and in some ways Seinfeld uses a lot of underlying sarcastic comedy. The fact that the pool boy happened to fit the stereotype is not a suggestion that all pool boys are hispanic and have funny accents, it’s funny because the stereotype is actually fullfilled. Well… that’s my two cents… (or more)
Btw, did you check the comments on that vid on youtube? I couldn’t find any that agreed with the guy. Doesn’t mean he’s wrong, I’m just saying…
Cheers,
Sven
December 8th, 2006 at 12:33 pm
Yeah you have a point. And the comments all had a point. But those comments were 6 months ago. Before the Michael Richards incident.
Do I think the show is racist? No. But I loved the show and now the experience and joy of watching it will be tainted. I like it so much I’d rather stop watching it now than to continue watching it and constantly question the meaning of things said.
December 9th, 2006 at 10:56 am
Seinfeld is still one of my favorite TV shows but ever since I watched the Michael Richards incident on Youtube, it just gets uneasy whenever Kramer appears on the show. But I’m an Indian guy living in a place (Singapore) far far away from where all of this happened, and my only source of such news is actually Youtube. I would imagine it would have a bit more awkward effect on Americans.
December 12th, 2006 at 6:13 am
Yeah I get your point, Ejovi. The thing is that he is such a funny actor… I try and separate the show from real life… but then you do wonder, “Am I supporting that sort of racism?” In any case, the rest of the actors probably shouldn’t suffer for something that one of them said when he wasn’t on the show. I’ll keep watching for now, until they all go out and do it.