Reverend Al Sharpton Discusses Conversation With Michael Richards
A.J. HAMMER, SHOWBIZ TONIGHT ANCHOR: Two big stories that only SHOWBIZ TONIGHT covers best. Major developments today in the Michael Richards racial controversy. And the shocking O.J. tape you won`t see anywhere else. I`m A.J. Hammer in New York.</s>BROOKE ANDERSON, SHOWBIZ TONIGHT: And does a Britney Spears/Kevin Federline sex tape really exist? I`m Brooke Anderson in Hollywood. TV`s most provocative entertainment news show starts right now.</s>HAMMER: On SHOWBIZ TONIGHT, the Michael Richards` outrage. Tonight for the very first time the targets of the Seinfeld star`s disgusting racial rant speak out. Plus, the biggest stars in Hollywood tell SHOWBIZ TONIGHT what they think of Richards` startling tirade.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I hope he can get it together.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know that there are still obviously certain people that have hatred.</s>HAMMER: Tonight, SHOWBIZ TONIGHT is asking, is Richards` apology enough? O.J. speaks. Tonight, O.J. Simpson talks about the cancellation of his outrageous, If I Did It, TV special and book.</s>O.J. SIMPSON, FORMER PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL STAR: Of course I got paid.</s>HAMMER: Plus, we`ve got O.J. caught on tape like you`ve never seen him before. Tonight SHOWBIZ TONIGHT goes one on one with the guy trying to sell these outrageous O.J. videos. It`s the explosive interview you`ll see only on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT. Welcome to the holiday weekend. I`m A.J. Hammer in New York.</s>ANDERSON: Hi there, everyone. I`m Brooke Anderson in Hollywood. There are huge developments to tell you about tonight in the two biggest controversial stories out there, Seinfeld star Michael Richards` racist rant and the O.J. Simpson debacle.</s>HAMMER: That`s right, Brooke. O.J. today gave his very first interview since Fox canceled the outrageous TV show and book, in which O.J. was going to tell how he might have killed his ex-wife Nicole, if he did it. We`ll be speaking with the man who is now selling startling tapes of O.J. Simpson, as you`ve never seen him before. There he is.</s>ANDERSON: A.J., first tonight, the targets of Michael Richards racist tirade are speaking out for the first time, just as the Seinfeld star makes a dramatic phone call to apologize. Reverend Al Sharpton got the call and will join us here in just a moment, as the story of Kramer gone wild shows no sign of letting up.</s>ANDERSON: Michael "Kramer" Richards is now taking steps to make up for his ugly racist rant at a Los Angeles comedy club. And his apology on the Late Show with David Letterman was just the beginning.</s>MICHAEL RICHARDS, ACTOR: I`m concerned about more hate and more rage and more anger coming through.</s>ANDERSON: SHOWBIZ TONIGHT can now tell you that he has taken a dramatic new step. Civil rights activist Al Sharpton tells SHOWBIZ TONIGHT Richards has called him to apologize and has agreed to meet with Sharpton in South Central Los Angeles or in Harlem, in New York. Sharpton first broke the news in a call to CNN.</s>REV. AL SHARPTON, ACTIVIST: I said the here you are, somebody we had in our living room. You were Kramer. We were used to you. And to come and see you say this is frightening to many Americans.</s>ANDERSON: But not everyone is accepting what Richards has to say.</s>MATT LAUER, THE TODAY SHOW: Did the apology mean anything to you guys?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, not really.</s>ANDERSON: On NBC`s Today Show the targets of Richards` rant are sending a message to him, apology not accepted.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For him to lash out like that was just totally uncalled for.</s>ANDERSON: Now, for the very first time, we`re hearing the sharp response from the men who bore the brunt of Richards` horrific rant and the unusual resolution they are suggesting. And we`ll show you how the story that has all of America talking, even has Hollywood`s biggest stars talking to SHOWBIZ TONIGHT about Kramer`s racist crack up.</s>JAMIE FOXX, ACTOR: Just as a person, if I was in audience, I would have had to have it. I would have went on stage and just took the microphone from him and just said, yo, you need to take a nap.</s>ANDERSON: : America is still reeling from the shock of watching the man who played one of America`s most beloved sitcom characters, unleash a stream of racial slurs at some fans who were making noise during his performance at a Los Angeles comedy club. Two of Richards` targets, Frank McBride and Kyle Doss, went on the Today Show to tell their side of the story. They say trouble began when they and their mixed race group of friends entered the club during Richards` act.</s>FRANK MCBRIDE, INSULTED BY MICHAEL RICHARDS: There was probably about 15 of us walking in all at once. And we had to order drinks and we had waitresses coming up to us. And I guess we were louder than expected.</s>KYLE DOSS, INSULTED BY MICHAEL RICHARDS: The first thing he said was, oh, the all the blacks and Mexicans are here.</s>MCBRIDE: No, he said we have a stupid bunch of Mexicans and blacks that just entered the room.</s>DOSS: Our first was total shock, I mean, like, there was no punch line, and then not only that, then he kept on going.</s>MCBRIDE: We kept waiting for a punch line.</s>DOSS: Yes, then he kept on just going on. He even said -- he even told me -- he was, like, when I wake up I`m still going to be rich. But when you wake up, you`re still going to be a N-word.</s>ANDERSON: McBride and Doss have retained celebrity attorney Gloria Allred, who appeared with them on the Today Show. She is suggesting an unusual way for Richards to make amends.</s>GLORIA ALLRED, ATTORNEY: After he hears the pain that he has inflicted on them, he should listen to the recommendations of a retired judge as to how much compensation he should pay to them.</s>ANDERSON: They are not the only ones talking about Richards` rant. At the American music awards in Los Angeles, the stars couldn`t wait to talk to SHOWBIZ TONIGHT about Richards and what he said.</s>ANDERSON: SHOWBIZ TONIGHT can tell you the stars reaction to Richards veered from anger and outrage to sadness and pity.</s>BEYONCE, SINGER: I try to focus on the positivity and just pray that the negative people can wake up one day and see that we`re all the same.</s>JOSH BROBAN, ACTOR: It was horrendous. I hope is able to control his anger and his problem.</s>MARY J. BLIGE, SINGER: I feel bad for him because he must be damaged in a way we don`t even understand that caused him to react like that.</s>PETER WENTZ, FALL OUT BOY: You can`t really blame it on anger or drinking, or whatever it is. I think that any time anybody makes remarks like that, they need to seriously question their own ideals.</s>THE GAME, RAPPER: It`s a shame, but he said he was sorry, and I think that -- you know, I don`t think he should be ridiculed for the rest of his life.</s>ANDERSON: So, it`s clear that Richards has some work to do to make up to the people he insulted and to the nation he offended.</s>ANDERSON: We apparently haven`t heard the last apology from Michael Richards. He has hired New York public relations expert Howard Rubenstein to help him deal with the fallout from his incident. Rubenstein tells CNN that his new client, quote, will be doing a good deal of apologies over the next few months.</s>HAMMER: Well, as you just heard, Michael Richards has reached out to black community leaders. One of those leaders with us tonight here in New York, community activist and host of the Al Sharpton Radio Show, the Reverend Al Sharpton. Reverend Al, always good to see you.</s>REV. AL SHARPTON, ACTIVIST: Good to see you,</s>A.J. HAMMER: So, listen, obviously Michael Richards is doing what he can to put this behind him. I think that`s going to be a very long road to travel. What exactly did he say to you on the phone today?</s>SHARPTON: Well, when he called he said to me that he first wanted to apologize. He felt that what he said he couldn`t explain. He saw that I had called on him not to just apologize on the David Letterman show. I respect Mr. Letterman a lot, but that`s not the crowd or the demographics that he offended. I told him his apology is fine. I don`t think any community leader, national leader can accept an apology on behalf of all black people. I said, what I think you can do is begin a process that can deal with the continuing, lingering problems of racism in the country, which clearly you have found in yourself. What you said was a tirade that came from somewhere. That anger, that racial hate, that you may or may not have known was there, obviously became something that you came out with and you kept going with it. This was not a slip of the tongue. If you can help in a dialogue that can lead us to dealing with that lingering problem, then I think that it becomes something that good comes out of this, not just somebody saying, I`m sorry and some others saying, OK, let`s go on.</s>HAMMER: So, how did he respond to your suggestions?</s>SHARPTON: He said that he wanted to talk. He would be open to whatever continued dialogue that some of us decide that we would do. And he wanted me to get back with him. I told him I would. And I told him I was going to share with my national radio audience and others that we had talked, but that I was not in a position to say this is over or that I accepted an apology, but that unfortunately he represents a continuing problem. I told him last Monday -- I was on the stage in Washington, D.C., where they broke the ground for the Martin Luther King monument. It showed us how far we have come. Then by the end of the week, his tirade shows us how far we still have to go. And I think that if we could recognize that we`ve made a lot of progress, but not be in denial that it`s all over with, then I think we can continue the task. He could, in a weird way, be something that could help us along that way.</s>HAMMER: That is a great irony of this whole situation and I agree, there is always a benefit to having this much needed dialogue and having it continue in our country. But when you look at this piece of tape of him going off on this venomous rant, it is just difficult. And I`ve had to watch it a lot at this point. Do you think anybody is actually really going to accept his apology or are we just going to have to watch his actions and decide down the road?</s>SHARPTON: I think that we`ll have to watch his actions. But I think the issue is bigger than him. I think that what we really have got to come to terms with and is healthy for all Americans to do it and it`s painful for some of us that are African American. Here`s a guy that we got comfortable sitting in our living rooms watching every night. This is Kramer. This isn`t some guy in 1930 with a bib on down south and with tobacco juice running down his jaw. This is Kramer. And if he feels this way about us, it`s a little frightening. So I think that maybe it means that all of us have got to say, wait a minute, let`s look at what`s going on here. On the other hand, we also have got to look at those of us, even in the African American community, that has giving license to the use of the N-word, that we have really got to say wait a minute, we`ve got to draw the line, because we cannot be the only people in America that doesn`t have a word that denigrates and desecrates us.</s>HAMMER: Reverend Al, you do say that it is bigger than him, and I do agree with you on that. This is a much bigger problem than one person and maybe he has brought to the surface what we should be talking about. I`ve got about 30 second here. A lot of people have been saying though, and they said this about Mel Gibson as well, for him to have actually said what he said, regardless of the motivation, regardless of what pushed him to that point, he`s got to have it inside of him. So do you think Michael Richards is a racist?</s>SHARPTON: I think that he absolutely has had racist feelings, racist tendencies. Whether he was a practicing, go to the clan meeting at midnight, racist or not, he certainly had those feelings. They came out. The frightening part, why we need the dialogue, is who else in Hollywood, who may not be in front of the camera, but may be in the corporate boardroom, may have those feelings, and I hope SHOWBIZ TONIGHT helps keep the cameras on until we can get all of the racism out of Hollywood and every other place in America.</s>HAMMER: Wouldn`t that be a fine day Reverend Al? Wouldn`t that be a fine day?</s>SHARPTON: That`s the day we`ve got to try to work towards.</s>HAMMER: Well, Reverend Al Sharpton, we always appreciate having you on the show.</s>SHARPTON: Thank you.</s>HAMMER: And We, of course, will have much more on the Michael Richards fallout when the biggest stars in Hollywood tell SHOWBIZ TONIGHT what they think of Richards` startling tirade. We`ll get into that at 30 past the hour. Coming up, O.J. caught on tape like you`ve never seen him before. The guy that`s actually trying to sell the tapes is on the way.</s>ANDERSON: Also, SHOWBIZ TONIGHT finds out once and for all, is there a XXX Britney Spears/Kevin Federline sex tape?</s>HAMMER: And tonight the SHOWBIZ Weight Watch continues. We cover this stuff like nobody else, the continuing battle with body image in Hollywood. We`re going to catch up with Nicole Richie. This is her actual very first major appearances since she sought help for being too skinny. We`re going to have that coming up on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT as we get into the holiday weekend. We`ll be right back.