Frank McBride and Kyle Doss: Serenity Now!

It seems like this story has been going on forever. It's only been a week, but that seems like an eternity when it comes to news.

Enough already!

Everyone is familiar with Michael Richards' explosion into a racist rant during his stand up act at a comedy club.

Read the background here if you've been living under a rock and don't know what happened.

Unfortunately, the saga continues.

Yesterday, (while I was doing my post-Thanksgiving patriotic duty to support the nation's economy), one of the targets of Richards' attack and his lawyer announced that they believed Richards needed to apologize for his behavior, not just verbally but financially as well.

This should come as no surprise. The lawyer is Gloria Allred. The woman is everywhere. She has an uncanny ability to get the infamous to hire her to represent them.

From the Associated Press:

Two men who say they were insulted by actor-comedian Michael Richards during his racist rant at a comedy club want a personal apology and maybe some money, one of the men and their lawyer said Friday.

Frank McBride and Kyle Doss said they were part of a group of about 20 people who had gathered at West Hollywood's Laugh Factory to celebrate a friend's birthday. According to their attorney, Gloria Allred, they were ordering drinks when Richards berated them for interrupting his act.

When one of their group replied that he wasn't funny, Richards launched into a string of obscenities and repeatedly used the n-word. A video cell phone captured the outburst.

Richards, who played Jerry Seinfeld's wacky neighbor Kramer on the TV sitcom "Seinfeld," made a nationally televised apology on the "Late Show with David Letterman" earlier this week. He has since apologized to the Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, both civil rights leaders.

Let me be clear.

I think Richards was completely out of line and should apologize for his horrendous behavior. It was such an out of control, horrible display.

BUT--

Why should he apologize specifically to Jackson and Sharpton?

What is that???

I think it's funny that the AP identifies them as civil rights leaders.

If they're the best the civil rights movement can offer, then the movement is lost. Don't forget that Jackson and Sharpton have anti-Semitic remarks in their pasts.

Now Doss has come out of the shadows and anonymity of the audience and taken center stage. He wants an apology, too. It can't be just any apology.

But Doss, 26, said Friday he wanted a "face-to-face apology."

"To have him do what he did to me ... I can't even explain it," Doss said. "I was humiliated, even scared at one point."

Richards' publicist said his client wants to apologize to both men, who are black, but hasn't been able to locate them.

Again, Richards is in the wrong.

He went absolutely nuts.

BUT--

I don't believe that Doss was scared.

He's not a shy, meek, and mild type of person. He's a heckler, right?

What's with this "ordering drinks" stuff?

So Doss and company were behaving appropriately and politely and Richards went berserk?

That's a new kink in the story.

Even if that's the case, I don't buy that 26-year-old Doss feared for his safety because a guy pushing sixty was screaming at him from a stage in front of an audience.

If Doss is demanding a "face-to-face apology," that's his business.

Is it really necessary to get a lawyer?

Richards has said he wanted to apologize directly to the people he insulted.

Why hire Allred?

Is she working pro bono?

I think it's more likely that Allred found Doss and not the other way around.

Allred, speaking by phone from Colorado, said Richards should meet McBride and Doss in front of a retired judge to "acknowledge his behavior and to apologize to them" and allow the judge to decide on monetary compensation.

"It's not enough to say 'I'm sorry' on 'David Letterman,'" she said.

She did not mention a specific figure, but pitched the idea as a way for the comic to avoid a lawsuit.

What sort of retired judge is Allred thinking of?

Is she envisioning a Judge Judy or a Judge Joe Brown scenario?

If Allred thinks Doss and McBride should file a lawsuit against Richards, then they should sue for damages.

This retired judge idea is really weird.

"Our clients were vulnerable," Allred said. "He went after them. He singled them out and he taunted them, and he did it in a closed room where they were captive."

How dramatic!

Richards did taunt them. Absolutely.

However, they weren't captive. They were free to leave.

And if it's true that they were heckling Richards, then they certainly can't be seen as vulnerable.

I'm not excusing Richards' behavior in any way.

However, I do object to Allred's description of the men as vulnerable. In no way can they have been considered captive.

...Richards' publicist said the comic wasn't considering any demand for payment. "He's not dealing with that," Howard Rubenstein said. "He wants to apologize to them directly and then see what happens."

A face-to-face apology is fine if a phone call or a formal letter isn't enough. I would imagine that could be arranged.

However, I don't think Richards should be expected to pay monetary reparations for his outburst.

Did anyone in the audience know Doss and McBride?

Without knowing their identities, the argument can't be made that Richards' slandered them and that would have a negative impact on their careers. It can't be said that Richards or other audience members could track them down and harass them.

Were they emotionally harmed by the episode?

That's difficult to quantify.

If Doss and McBride want money and Allred wants her piece of that pie, then let them go to court, not to a retired judge.

Why a retired judge?

It seems like a shakedown.

Richards shouldn't be expected to fork over money without the benefit of a defense.

Let's hear what McBride and Doss' roles were in the incident. Put them all under oath. Get witnesses.

I suspect it would come out that Doss and McBride were taunting Richards.

If they were completely innocent in the matter, you can bet that Allred would have already filed a lawsuit.