I'm sure the old guard NAACP'ers will consider this a victory in the fight for bourgeois decency. Me? Not so much.
Eddie Griffin thought he'd shock the swells at a big Black Enterprise event over the weekend by littering his act with N-words, but the comic was the one who got the real jolt when the mag's owner gonged his routine, and tossed him off the stage!You could look at this two ways. Griffin, speaking at a corporate sponsored event, should have known much better than using the word "nigga" (sorry, why even bother dressing it up as "The N-Word"? It still means the same thing.) in front of such a stuffy audience. Maybe a comedic genius like Dick Gregory could have gotten away with it, but a minstrel like Griffin, who wasn't funny before Undercover Brother, and hasn't been funny since, can't pull off such a stunt.
Rev. Al Sharpton tells TMZ that Griffin took the stage as the headliner and did his best Michael Richards impression, blistering the mostly African-American crowd with a barrage of N-bombs, and wailing, "Why are some black leaders telling us to stop using the N word?"
Griffin's mike was promptly cut, and Black Enterprise owner/publisher Earl Graves stomped on stage and proclaimed, "We ... will not allow our culture to go backwards ... We will pay Mr. Griffin all that we owe him but we will not allow him to finish the show if that's the way he's going to talk." Oh, snap!
The crowd gave Graves a standing ovation -- and Rev. Al, speaking the next day at the event, gave Graves props for his axing of Griffin. A rep for Griffin had no comment.
On other hand, who the hell did Earl Graves and Company think they were hiring? Byron Allen? Wayne Brady? Sinbad? By going for a "name" instead of using common sense, they first put themselves in a trick bag, and then want to proclaim themselves as some sort of victors in the annals of Black Crusading.
Making a mistake isn't a victory. Admitting one, which Graves has yet to do, is.
Negroes please!
By failing to exercise even a nominal amount of common sense, both sides make themselves look like pure ingrates. In this post-Imus world, such oversensitivity only undermines legitimate pushes for more decent media representations of black culture.
Reginald Lewis and Red Foxx crying inside.
Griffin Dropped for Dropping N-Bomb
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Hey Avg. Bro:
Great article. I am with you: "You knew I was a snake when I met you. So, why are you surprised that I bit you?'
Yeah, I went to the BE event in LaQuinta back in 2001. Steve Harvey was the headliner with American Airlines as the sponsor for his segment. His issue was no one laughed. He called he audience Bousie - which made it even worse and won him no points.
I thought he was about to get kicked off. He did cuss - even after they asked him not to - but, I don't recall his using the "N-word."
Good post.
CBW
Peace.
Yeh we've been talking about this over at Highbrid Nation. One thing that is for sure is that Eddie was not keeping in mind his audience when he started and the Black Enterprise people were not considering the material of Eddie when they booked him. Before it becomes a matter of if the N word is ok or not its a matter of thinking about the people you are gonna be dealing with.
Avg. Bro. I had to link to this post. I heard abotu this earler this week and I was actually thinking the same thing. WHAT THE HELL WAS BE THINKING???
They knew who they were hiring. That is what they get when you try juggling rattle snakes while riding a unicycle, you get bitten.
Good comments, but speakers at events are booked a year or two in advance so it is quite possible that they assumed using the n word would be perfectly acceptable until all of the bull shit started with Imus and n word stuff. They knew what they had when they booked him.
For me, the storming on the stage and "we will pay him what we owe him" speech is a bit overbearing. Maybe strategic dramatic effect by Papa Earl? But, getting busted by the Talented Tenth sounds pretty comical in itself!
I agree with msjokr. Maybe Mr. Griffin was simply making fun of the Zip Coon type event itself. Some of us are oh so special and our sensibilities go beyond the experience of living Black in America. God bless us. CV
Well there are two sides to the story; one would be freedom of speech (one in which the US was founded on) in which you are allowed to say what you want where you want. They knew what his routine norm was; so why invite him and allow him to get on stage for you to embarrass him by putting him out. I bet over 90% of those in attendance have either watched his stand up on cable t.v. or paid to attend one of his shows. I have watched him do stand up and roared with laughter at him!
I am not saying the "N" word should not have bad publicity but I am not saying it should. I think it is who uses it and how they use it. Young black males from as long as I can remember even back in my grandmother time have always said things like what up my N_gger, you may main N_gger and so on.
I think that because of the fear that a lot of other ethnicities have of us they try to manipulate their way into our culture and use words and dress codes that we have come to embrace to cause an unnecessary uproar and distraction from what the real issue is. For example what about Jenna Six and why are media stations less likely to cover stories of missing young black males and females versus the over coverage of missing white children.
What we should be focused on is why are they still using the words like segregation, division, half breed discrimination and private sector (in layman terms whites only), why do we still have to have public announcements stressing to us that you can not be discriminated against because of the color of your skin; yet whites with a 560 credit score receive better mortgage deals than blacks with a 700 credit score. Why are we not focused on the laws that discriminate against our people; for instance why do black males and females receive harsher penalties for the same crimes that other ethnicities commit. If we want to fight a cause lets not waste our time by what they call us, you can call me anything you want but you better respect me and treat me fairly.
Mr.. Sharpton and NAACP and all other lead blacks of America stop the madness with this mislead fight and get to the core of what is really happening. What is the lesser of two evils how we allow them to treat us or how we embarrass and mistreat one another. I remember reading an article in a black magazine in which a high publicized brother stated "he would never date or marry a black woman because they were too demanding" my response is your Mother is a black woman and it did not take a rapper or stand up comedian to help you come up with that statement or decision in life that you made. You had a choice to date who you wanted and you chose the weaker don't use the fact that we have been always and will be always able to carry our own, through raising our children and the rest of Americas, or that we can make a meal out of hot dogs, french-fries and applesauce, that we can make a dollar seem like one hundred dollars. That when we speak we speak with wisdom, correction and love.
Face it they brought our ancestors here by force(even though some of our own sold us to them), now that we are here and have been for some time they don't want us, why because we are intelligent, entrepreneurs, inventors and much more. We are no less or more than any one else; what makes us different from the rest is that we refuse to allow anyone to destroy us, so lets stop destroying ourselves.
Hey but that is just my opinion and you know what they say about that.
Honestly I like Eddie Griffin's stand up. This was a great article. It kinda annoying how Al sharpton jumped up to say something when he has been seen at Eddie's shows I do like how eddie addressed this issue in his stand up freedom of speech
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