According to Joseph Phillips, Michael Richards’ apology tour has made a problematic stop by the doorsteps of Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. Although I strongly disagree with Phillips’ assessment of Jesse Jackson, who I regard as one of the great civil rights leaders of the 20th century, he nonetheless forces us to consider the politics of public apologies.

Doing the Apology Two-Step with Al & Jesse Doesn’t Help Richards – or the Rest of America
By Joseph C. Phillips

Certainly it is a sign of the cynicism of our times that after a faux pas such as that committed by actor Michael Richards at the Laugh Factory a few weeks ago, he has hired a public relations expert to do damage control. Alas, he is being led down the garden path under the misguided notion that there is a science to apology, an art to sincerity, that genuine contrition requires choreography.

His fortune is paying for expertise (and I use the term loosely) that will soon have Richards tap dancing on every street corner — “I’m not a racist. Watch me dance.” It is the same tired two step performed by Trent Lott when he appeared on Black Entertainment Television and announced that he was a champion of affirmative action. It didn’t work for Lott and it will not work for Richards. It is theatre of the insincere, a modern dance that seeks only to entertain constituencies rather than make amends to the aggrieved party.

Richard’s tap dance tour moved into full swing with phone calls placed to the Reverends Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. Richards adds insult to injury when he seeks absolution not by making overtures to the audience that paid good money for bad comedy, but by kissing the rings of these two grand pooh-bahs of race.

Truthfully, Richards might be forgiven this latest gaffe. After all, if these media-appointed leaders have the power to pronounce major corporations free from racism (for a price), certainly they must have the power to absolve Richards. Isn’t that what preachers do? “I say, I can heeeeaal ya tonight!”

What is truly ironic is that in addition to wearing $1,500 suits with no visible means of support, both these gentlemen have been embroiled in their own racially tinged scandals. In 1984, during the Democratic presidential primary, Jackson referred to New York as “Hymietown,” and Sharpton’s anti-Jewish rhetoric once earned him the title of the David Duke of the Democratic Party.

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