Al Sharpton: Eddie Griffin Dropped for Dropping N-Bomb

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Sharpton: Griffin Dropped for Dropping N-Bomb

Posted Sep 4th 2007 5:30PM by TMZ Staff
Filed under: Wacky and Weird

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!



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.

http://www.tmz.com/2007/09/04/sharpton-griffin-dropped-for-dropping-n-bomb/#continuedcontents

[Stand and Fight]

1. Good, good, good...

As a member of the Black community, I could not be happier. It's so dammed backwards to use that word and how can we, as a people, expect the word to go away when it is employed by us?

[TheUniverse]

2. This reeks of censorship.

I don't see the point in censoring comedians. Obviously people know he is not using the word in the same context as a KKK member. It the ideas that are bad, and censoring certain words is just stupid.

[tkmorris]

5. The crowd obviously doesn't agree with you

And I'd say their opinion carries a lot more weight than yours.

[TheUniverse]

7. Certain opinions carry more weight than others?

Certainly you can see there are bigger problems than just words. I'm a big fan of stand up comedians and I never like it when I hear about them being censored.

[zonkers]

6. Not censorship if it was a "private event". Plus he got paid -- just sent home early.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

10. You don't think that's censorship?

Griffin said "Why are some black leaders telling us to stop using the N word?" and then they cut off his mike, and you don't think that's censorship?

[Bucky]

13. He wasn't cut off for the ideas he was expressing. He was cut off for obscenity.

Let's not devalue the worth of the word "censorship."

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

14. No, he was cut off for the ideas he was expressing.

Nor does is there a line between ideas and obscenities when it comes to qualifying for censorship.

"Let's not devalue the worth of the word "censorship.""

Let's not pretend this isn't censorship.

[DS1]

18. He's paid to say what they want him to say

If he feels censored, he can go outside, set up a donation box, and say whatever the hell he likes.

I'm not sure I agree with their decision, I think the act could have been quite good and useful

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

19. I don't think censorship is ever good or useful.

And just because it was a private function doesn't mean it wasn't censorship.

[zonkers]

20. Well, I mean, technicallly you can say he was censored. But if it was not an event open to

the public whether by invite or paid admission -- which it was not, it was a private affair, I do not see anything wrong with it. In my book, the guy that paid for the performance has the final word as to what he wants to hear.

If I hired a Hawaiian band to play my daughter's wedding and they started playing acid rock -- I'd pull the plug. Is that censorship?

[Bucky]

22. Why, you anti-acidic Nazi! Clearly you hate our marching freedoms.

Those musicians are artists. When you kill dissent, you kill a little kitten in all of us.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

24. If a principal at a private school...

decided the English class won't read Maya Angelou because of the content, would that be censorship?

Yes, of course.

[Bucky]

25. Right, because that is a case of censoring an idea in an academic environment.

If I just repeat the word nigger over and over here in DU and I get bumped, that's not censorship. That is enforcing community standards. If someone with a track record of opposing the casual use of the word "nigger" hires me to talk to a crowd and I go ahead and start up using the word, it's not censorship. It's editing. And I'd be an asshole to do that.

I love Eddie Griffin, but he was being an asshole and disrespecting his patron.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

26. You just used the word "nigger" twice.

:shrug:

[Bucky]

29. and on purpose

Go figure

[Bucky]

12. Amen. It's about context. Words don't matter. What can words do? Nothing. Fuck words!

Do you feel the same way about Fred Phelps's right to free speech at soldiers' funerals?

What on earth is the appropriate context in which to litter a room full of professionals with the word Nigger?

[Amerigo Vespucci]

15. It was a private event, and Griffin was a paid performer

On one hand, yes...in the strict "dictionary" sense of the word, it's censorship in that the event's coordinators decided what Griffin could and could not say.

But it was an event, and not a comedy club. I felt that Earl Graves' comments were appropriate and well within his rights as the man who hired Griffin for the event.

I also respectfully disagree with your statement that "he is not using the word in the same context as a KKK member."

I know what the word means, and more importantly, I know how other people feel about the use of the word, so if I'm using it, I have an agenda. Maybe I'm a bigot. Maybe I'm venting. Maybe I'm trying to piss someone off. Maybe I'm a frigging punk who thinks it's funny that I "can" say it and other people "can't." Maybe I just don't care. See where I'm going with this? I don't have a problem with First Amendment Poster Children. I just don't think Griffin makes a good candidate for that title.

Griffin...or Michael Richards...or anyone else who tosses that word around, is simply stirring the pot. It doesn't make them better or worse than the dickhead wearing the pillowcase with the eye holes cut out. It just makes them another asshole tossing that word around.

But like I said, my opinion, your opinion, just as important as free speech...right?

:toast:

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

16. Uh, what?

"I also respectfully disagree with your statement that 'he is not using the word in the same context as a KKK member.'"

Are you saying that Eddie Griffin is a white supremacist?

[Catherine Vincent]

3. Good!

This has to stop!

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

4. Well that's really, really dumb.

Al Sharpton's losing it.

[NOLALady]

8. Great!

If this is censorship, so be it. It's about damn time.

[TahitiNut]

9. !

:applause:

(In a time-honored tradition, I applaud the audience.)

[AspenRose]

11. Finally...the community is taking it seriously.

Good.

[porphyrian]

17. Did anyone bother to listen to Griffin's act before they hired him?

Were they trying to create a scene to make a point or something?

Anyone who thinks the "Black Community" is in agreement on this issue isn't talking to the entire community.

[KaptBunnyPants]

21. Dumbass.

What kind of moron tells racist jokes at a civil rights event. If comedy is about timing, then Griffin must be the worst comedian ever. Maybe he can do a world tour - I'm sure the Vietnamese never get tired of those "Me rove you rong time" jokes.

[Flabbergasted]

23. "We ... will not allow our culture to go backwards..." Yes!

[ecstatic]

27. I thought Griffin's career was over after Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo

Where he plays a (bisexual?) pimp. Worst. Movie. Ever.

[notadmblnd]

28. surely these people knew his brand of comedy before they booked him?

Was he used to create an issue within the black community?