But it's more than that because I don't know if back then gay people compared themselves to the black struggle. But Richard is kinda giving the that in that he's saying you a minority like us so you should care about us.
Gay people know what it's like to face BIGOTRY, but NOT the same way black people do. Gays are discriminated against all the time, but THEY can often PASS FOR STRAIGHT. Black people, naturally, don't often PASS FOR WHITE. So if WHITE GAYS - even WITH their tiny shred of experience about what it must be like to be black - STILL DISCRIMINATE, then what ground do STRAIGHT WHITE people (who have NO idea at all) have left to stand on? Pryor's rant PROVES systemic racism exists, because even those who you'd expect to understand, often DON'T. Wypipo, gay OR straight, need to STFU and LISTEN, instead of denying the problem exists and then ticking off their list of black friends.
Dave outed racism as Richard did decades before. The fight against hate should be with integrity or it will not be taken seriously. And LGBT silence to other issues is glaring. You cannot serve two matters. Righteous or selfish?
The unfortunate thing with Dave though is that he seems to have been grossly out of touch about the community, namely, trans folks are only white. Like… 🤦🏾♂️🙄 Dude. I saw so many folks pissed about this. Black queer folks. Like, he started with some legitimate critiques, but then went off the deep end. Thankfully, lately, he's going after the racism against Palastinians instead of perpetrating Black erasure. Heh.
Yup, he called them (& everybody really) out for not really giving a shit about Watts etc. This is the same issue today with Chappelle, speaking truth to the politically correct mob.
I remember seeing this short set in its entirety. He never condemned gay people or bashed them. He was questioning why the gay movement hadnt made any comments on the riots in black neighbourhoods that had recently happened. He called it hypocritical that that particular event that he was performing at claimed to be about civil rights, which was largely the same thing as black rights at the time, but only seemed to be about gay rights and no one was talking about black rights and he (as he says in this short clip) barely saw any black people there. Add to that a serious cocaine habit that was more than one step into abusive addiction at the time, and thats what came out. Hell, he was bisexual himself, having had Marlon Brando as a lover, cheated repeatedly on his wives with both men and women and he had always felt an attraction to Gene Wilder (according to Gene himself) so how could he possibly be homophobic?
I was there that evening. What I remember of this portion of the show is Pryor was upset about the lack of applause a previous black performer had received and that's what set him off on his tirade. The leaders in the Black civil rights movement would eventually find common ground with the leaders in the Gay rights movement and forge mutual positions protecting each other. That would be in the 80s and 90s into the 2000s, as AIDS was devasting to both communities. The rank and file black community wasnt so much a friend to the gay community. In fact many in the Black community rank and file would get upset that some prominent leaders in the Black community would stand with the Gay leaders. When gay marriage was being debated, the Black religious community came out against gays and merged with far right Christian groups to oppose legalizing gay marriage
It wasn't very long. He pretty much started out angry. Pryor brought a very dark mood to the event. When Bette Midler came out she turned the mood around and people put Pryor's tirade behind them. I was there.
Dave Chapelle was going in on the LGBT community the night he was tackled. Hollywood bowl is a LGBT venue pretty much. When Richard Pryor did this It was at the same venue.
This seems an important piece of history, but it certainly isn't well known. If what Mr Pryor was saying here is accurate, the Gay Lib movement in the US some 45 years ago, was a different experience for blacks and whites. I'd just assumed it was equally difficult. I live outside the US where we are only now learning that many of the famous and influential blacks of the 20th century were gay or bi. I'm one of the dumb ones who thought that nearly all black men were hetero.
Well it was ......this happened after the stonewall riots....he was say they have a rally and political movement for gay rights (which was fine) black ppl were in support but when the watts riots and the police beatings of black ppl those gay rights ppl was not helping black ppl.....that's why he made that speech........at this time also disco was hot and there were openly gay bars and clubs that accepted it but not for a lot of black and Latino gays
Because he's a sacred cow, the celebs line up to make excuses for him - I actually don't think he needs excuses. He said what he thought, like it or...kiss his ass. I respect that immensely. You wouldn't say Michael Richards was abused as a kid or was high, you'd just cancel him forthwith but Richard? No, he gets a pass.
Was he wrong for calling out racism among gays? In fact he WAS abused as a child. It’s well documented that he was exposed to things as a child that guaranteed he would never be “normal.” It would be great to hear the full “rant” in its entirety for proper context…and I know an open mind like yours would like to have everything in context BEFORE making a judgement, right? Apparently, something that tees him off before he got on stage that night was the way some of the event organizers treated some black dancers who were there-members of the Lockers, I believe-and it was pretty bad. Like I said, context is everything.
It’s Not a pass it’s just facts about his life. He was raised in a brothel His mother was a prostitute He was abused mentally,Physically,& sexually as a child. Was racially abused his whole life. He was kicked out of his home on his own as a teenager. He spoke his trauma unapologetically the way he viewed the world through his experiences into comedy & he was Great at it.💯🐐👏🏾 No Excuses ALL FACTS
Also Rich Never repeatedly called a YT person out they name nor threatened while screaming that back in the day who would be hanging from a tree.🤦🏾♂️👻👿 I saw the rant he’s deeply racist that was No parts comedy & It’s NO EXCUSES for Richard’s he’s FOREVER cancelled in the black community!💯✊🏾
Richard Pryor is a genius. For the other comments, it's important to put that event into historical context. It was a very scary time for gay people to speak openly about being gay. There were consequences. So, the event planners did the best they could during that time. Richard pushed the envelope and was ahead of his time. God Bless him!
Lily Tomlin, Tiffany Haddish, and a couple of others GET IN THE WAY of us viewers seeing/hearing what Pryor said, giving us a tiny bit of his dialogue. I don't want to HEAR THEM, I want to HEAR RICHARD.
