" Friedman is a threat to the two-party system, so his opponents are digging through fictional books, comedy shows and song lyrics "

Kinky's rivals seize upon 26-year-old joke

Friedman faces calls for apology, defends use of n-word in stand-up act

11:21 PM CDT on Thursday, September 21, 2006

By CHRISTY HOPPE / The Dallas Morning News

AUSTIN – A crass joke using the n-word that Kinky Friedman told 26 years ago has prompted his opponents to call for an apology – a move Mr. Friedman dismissed as gamesmanship.
Mr. Friedman said he did not recall telling the joke but explained that in his years as a stand-up comic, he regularly used racial, ethnic and sexual satire. He said his act was often "raunchy" and "over the edge" in the vein of Lenny Bruce or Richard Pryor.
While at a club in Houston, Mr. Friedman is heard on an audio snippet saying: "I went to a bowling alley. I couldn't go bowling. There were no bowling balls. The people here threw them all in the sea. They thought they were [n-word] eggs."
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The snippet appeared Thursday on burntorangereport.com, a blog affiliated with progressive Democratic politics.
Mr. Friedman said he did not think the joke was offensive in the context of his show. And he said he would not be surprised if opponents tried to smear him with other "redneck" jokes he used about Hispanics, women, Jews and gays.
"I think Texas voters will decide, and I think they'll decide correctly that these guys are slimy ... cockroaches," Mr. Friedman said of those who would try to paint him as a racist. "It's what keeps people from running for office. And I don't think it's going to work."
But other major candidates in the race said such comments are over the edge.
"The latest revelations of Kinky's racist comments are disgusting," said Democrat Chris Bell. "He can call it 'satire,' but it's just not funny."
Mr. Friedman, an author, musician and humorist in the crowded race for governor, has been challenged recently for other comments he has made that offended some in the black community.



AP
Kinky Friedman said his standup comedy was often in the vein of Lenny Bruce or Richard Pryor.
This month, he lamented the crime spike in Houston tied to Hurricane Katrina evacuees, calling those responsible "thugs and crackheads." In a CNBC interview last year, he said that sexual predators should be locked in cells all day and made "to listen to a Negro talking to himself."
Republican Gov. Rick Perry told reporters Thursday morning – before the latest revelation – that he stood with NAACP state director Gary Bledsoe and state Rep. Garnett Coleman, D-Houston, when they criticized Mr. Friedman for such comments.
"It's not lost on men and women of color when people make remarks that are clearly racist, if not directly racist, obliquely racist. And I think they have appropriately called his hand on it," Mr. Perry said.
Independent candidate Carole Keeton Strayhorn, through spokesman Mark Sanders, said: "That kind of thinking and language was totally unacceptable when he said it and is totally unacceptable today. I think he should apologize to the people of Texas."
Mr. Friedman said those who are dredging up old quotes and jokes are busy trying to show how politically correct they are so no one will ask them why they haven't achieved improvements in education or immigration reform.
"I'm defending anything that a stand-up comedian, probably drunk and on drugs, who does his kind of thing" would say, Mr. Friedman said. "Anything he says I don't think should be taken in quite the same way as if he wrote it in an essay. If they can find a nonfiction piece of work where I attack any ethnic group, let that one fly. But they're talking about a stage act, about a person who's supposed to offend everyone – that's his act.
"We could use a good deal more politicians who are not so afraid of offending people," he said.
Mr. Friedman said he believes the criticism was an orchestrated attack, much like what lawyers did to Los Angeles police Officer Mark Fuhrman during the O.J. Simpson murder trial.
"The question became whether Mark Fuhrman used the n-word with the gangs he was working with in LA. And the real issue was did O.J. murder his wife. And we never got to that," Mr. Friedman said.
Staff writer Robert T. Garrett contributed to this report.
E-mail choppe@dallasnews.com

source: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/092206dntexfriedman.30f1160.html

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Kinky Friedman Campaign Statement

While Rick Perry was cheerleading in college and Chris Bell was being potty trained, Kinky Friedman was picketing segregated restaurants in Austin to integrate them. Now that Kinky’s in second place and a serious threat to the two-party system, Perry and Bell have paid political assassins to dig back as far as 30 years through fictional books, comedy shows and satirical song lyrics, desperately seeking to paint Kinky as a racist.

Republicans and Democrats have created an entire industry-- called Opposition Research-- whose sole purpose is to tarnish and destroy people’s reputations. This is why regular citizens don't run for office. If you do, and you start to threaten the system as Kinky has, you’re going to be attacked.

Kinky has overcome all of the obstacles placed before him - getting on the ballot, raising millions of dollars, building the largest grassroots network Texas has ever seen, and breaking 20% in the polls months ago. He's a serious threat to the establishment, and when you threaten the political establishment, they use the money generated from their formidable fundraising machines to pay for "dirty tricks" tactics to manipulate the press.

It's a slimy industry that exists for the sole purpose of destroying people and -- like cockroaches-- scurries for the shadows whenever a light is shined on it.

The latest political assassination attempt takes completely out of context a controversial word that Kinky was using in a 1980 stand-up performance to lampoon racists. Playing a character on stage, Kinky was exposing bigotry through comedy and satire.

It’s pathetic that the major-party candidates have sunk to this – trying to paint Kinky as a racist when, in fact, he was poking fun at racists. Shame on the press for being complicit. Rather than confront our opponents on their tactics and get the full story, they are allowing industries like opposition research to exist and operate outside the understanding of most voters.

Posted by Kinky Web on September 21, 2006 04:18 PM |

source: http://www.kinkyfriedman.com/2006/09/kinky_friedman_campaign_statem.html
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"It was an equal opportunity offender. To pull out one joke is not fair because there was homophobic stuff, there was sexist stuff. There were Jewish jokes and there were Hispanic jokes," said Friedman, who is Jewish.

Friedman explained he has firm anti-racist credentials.

"Then there was real life. While Rick Perry was busy cheerleading in college, I was busy picketing segregated restaurants in Austin, Texas, to integrate them. That's real life. This is entertainment. It's outrageous performance art. Something to offend everybody."

source: http://blogs.chron.com/texaspolitics/
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Another racially charged Friedman remark emerges

AUSTIN -- Another racially charged remark by independent governor candidate Kinky Friedman emerged Thursday, this time in an audio clip of a 1980 Houston nightclub performance in which he used a racial slur.

The left-leaning political web log Burnt Orange Report posted the audio in which Friedman used the n-word twice in a joke.

Friedman, now 61, was making fun of bigots in a comedy routine, said his spokeswoman, Laura Stromberg. She said Friedman has tried to expose and lampoon racism.

"While Rick Perry was cheerleading in college and Chris Bell was being potty trained, Kinky Friedman was picketing segregated restaurants in Austin to integrate them," Friedman's campaign said in a prepared statement. His campaign said Friedman is a threat to the two-party system, so his opponents are digging through fictional books, comedy shows and song lyrics to try to paint him as a racist.

At the nightclub, Friedman tells about coming to a bowling alley in Houston and finding no bowling balls. He quipped that "the people threw them all in the sea" because they thought they were "n----- eggs." After the crowd laughs, he repeats the expression.

Friedman's attitude toward race became an issue in the governor's race earlier this month when he referred to the Katrina evacuees in Houston, most of whom are black, as "crackheads and thugs." He later criticized ethnic politicking by saying, "I don't eat tamales in the barrio, I don't eat fried chicken in the ghetto and I don't eat bagels with the Jews."

Friedman is Jewish.

Then a television interview from a year ago resurfaced in which Friedman was asked what to do about sexual predators.

"Throw them in prison and throw away the key and make them listen to a Negro talking to himself," Friedman said. He also called "Negro" a "charming word."

Friedman's campaign has said the CNBC interview in which he made the "Negro" remark was a reference to a book he wrote in the 1980s.

Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican seeking re-election against Friedman and three other candidates, said Thursday he agrees with state civil rights leaders and others who were offended by Friedman's remarks.

"These are individuals who know what a racist comment is," Perry said of black legislators and the state NAACP. "Call it politically incorrect if you want, but it's not lost on men and women of color when people make remarks that are clearly racist _ if not directly racist, obliquely racist. And I think they have appropriately called his hand."

State Rep. Garnet Coleman, former chairman of the Texas Legislative Black Caucus, said probably nobody would have scrutinized his 1980 remark if he hadn't said what he did about Hurricane Katrina evacuees.

"It makes it more relevant because people then look to see, is this part of your character," Coleman said. He said Friedman "needs to change his tune or get out of the race."

Stromberg said those who don't understand Friedman's jokes have had "humor bypasses."

The Friedman campaign statement said those offended by his Houston nightclub statement are taking "completely out of context a controversial word that Kinky was using in a 1980 stand-up performance to lampoon racists. Kinky was on stage exposing bigotry through comedy and satire."

The other major Texas gubernatorial candidates said Friedman should apologize.

"The latest revelations of Kinky's racist comments are disgusting. He can call it 'satire', but it's just not funny," said Democrat Chris Bell. "Comments like these make all Texans look bad. The Texas in our hearts is not filled with hate."

Independent candidate Carole Keeton Strayhorn said the language Friedman used was unacceptable, then and now.

"Such language is divisive and hurtful and has no place in any part of our society, regardless of one's race," she said.

The Friedman campaign also criticized the news media as being complicit by not confronting other candidates about the "slimy" opposition research used in some campaigns, which it said is intent on destroying people.

Spokespeople for Perry, Bell and Strayhorn said their campaigns didn't know about Friedman's Houston nightclub joke until reading about it on Burnt Orange Report.

Phillip Martin, who posted the audio on the blog, works for Coleman, the state legislator. Martin said he did the Web posting in his off time after getting it from an old fan of Friedman's. He said none of the gubernatorial campaigns nor Coleman knew about it before it was made public on the Web.

Kelley Shannon has covered Texas politics and government in Austin since 2000.

source: http://www.kristv.com/Global/story.asp?S=5441744&nav=Bsmh