Sharpton: Griffin Dropped for Dropping N-Bomb

Eddie Griffin thought he'd shock the swells at a big Black Enterprise event over the weekend by littering his act with N-words, but the comic was the one who got the real jolt when the mag's owner gonged his routine, and tossed him off the stage!
Al Sharpton, Eddie Griffin
Rev. Al Sharpton tells TMZ that Griffin took the stage as the headliner and did his best Michael Richards impression, blistering the mostly African-American crowd with a barrage of N-bombs, and wailing, "Why are some black leaders telling us to stop using the N word?"


Griffin's mike was promptly cut, and Black Enterprise owner/publisher Earl Graves stomped on stage and proclaimed, "We ... will not allow our culture to go backwards ... We will pay Mr. Griffin all that we owe him but we will not allow him to finish the show if that's the way he's going to talk." Oh, snap!

The crowd gave Graves a standing ovation -- and Rev. Al, speaking the next day at the event, gave Graves props for his axing of Griffin. A rep for Griffin had no comment.


Reader Comments

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76. #54 EMC well said indeed!

Posted at 10:28AM on Sep 5th 2007 by You said it well

77. #52 (EMC) -- I am white, I live in the ghetto.... I see the hood every day, and I can say from first hand experience that you have NO CLUE what you are talking about. #30 Nailed it on the head.

Posted at 10:29AM on Sep 5th 2007 by Joe Mama

78. Sharpton is the n word.If I ever was going to call someone that nasty word it would him.and don't get me started on Jackson(Jesse).Black America needs new leadership and get rid of these old f's.

Posted at 10:44AM on Sep 5th 2007 by RONNIE

79. To Dave Chappelle (No.5)... What about Don Imus, people tampled on his first amendment rights... I don't see you coming to his aid. Seems there is a double edged sword here... Whats good for the goose is not good for the gander. Until everyone accepts that certain words or phrases are not acceptable, and ALL people stop using it, there will always be forms of discrimination. I commend Graves for taking a firm stand for ALL people...

Posted at 11:36AM on Sep 5th 2007 by mattystripes

80. Glad they pulled the plug. The 1st Amendment was enacted to prohibit "Federal Legislature" from enacting any laws that would prohibit free speech and/or religion. The exact text... "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

An owner of a business is not the federal government. So if you're one of the ones making complaints about "he was censored." or "he was denied his free speech rights.", you are sadly mistaken.

Posted at 12:15PM on Nov 7th 2007 by Hrothgar

81. I'm a black woman and agree with #77, wholeheartedly!!!!!

Posted at 12:42PM on Sep 5th 2007 by MJ

82. Full-time job or two, college, pay taxes, quit having armies. Good bye illegals-Welcome Legals. Good bye welfare! Work where you live or we'll make you move to the job. Before any welfare!!!! You lose the right to choose and it's time for babysitter Sam to step in and guide you towards independence and freedom!!! ALL LEGAL AMERICANS. A color thing? yea, right!
We need to be protecting our borders instead of bickering over words and colors!!!!
Use the energy on security for all of us.

Posted at 1:16PM on Sep 5th 2007 by Color blind

83. That was the easist money Eddie Griffin every made. One line and then he got the hook. What I really do not understand is why they hired Griffin anyway? He made his career using curse words. What made them think he would stop just because he was at their convention. A cleaner comedian like Sinbad or a Christian comic would have made more sense.

Posted at 9:21PM on Sep 9th 2007 by Chris

84. I think racism is still very much alive, and we black people are the ones who allow it to survive, we make everything a white and black issue, we allow our entertainment and our personal convos to be littered with the hateful 'N' word and other words which do nothing to prove our intelligence or our prestige. When something goes its always the white mans fault, we do anything to put the blame on others instead of putting it on ourselves.....slavery happened years ago i think we black ppl should stop blaming and punishing white people for the wrong doing of their forefathers. and if i remember my history currently it was black leaders and in africa who sold their own ppl to the 'WHITE PPL" to be used has slaves. We have come along way and everytime we use the 'N' word wen talkin to each other we are putting ourselves back by 100 years.

Posted at 8:04PM on Sep 5th 2007 by prettybitch

85. @73,

Thank you for illuminating that you are white and living in a ghetto. I take it you have personally spoken with all the blacks in your community to validate #30's argument?

My point was that you cannot put your bad experiences with one or two people of a certain race on the entire race. This applies to everyone in this country. Until we, as a American citizens, come together and stop basing our opinions of people based solely on race and instead base it on character and content, then we are doomed continue this viscious circle of blame.
FYI, I lived in the ghetto and I got an education to get out of the ghetto. That was taught to my siblings and I by our PARENTS and reinforced by our neighborhood. Education is the key to everything. The only way to effect change is by doing for yourself. Don't get it twisted, there is a percentage of people who expect things to be handed to them but, hey that applies across the board to all soci-ecomonic backgrounds and races. For example, celebrites and their 'goody bags' of free, expensive items or 'entourage' of rappers who leech off of the golden goose. Open your mind and stop looking to blame people and start looking for ways to make a difference.

Posted at 3:25PM on Sep 5th 2007 by EMC

86. Okay, after reading all these comments I can agree on one thing. What Griffin did was wrong by Sharpton's standards, but not mine.

I completely agree with Post #8 about the networks and coalitions suppressing the growth of the culture. BET may be white-owned, but its substandard interest is in targeting the black population with racially-oriented programming. Why not create MET or WET?? (Mexican Ent. TV, White Ent. TV)

If your culture is advancing as people, why demean yourselves with in my opinion a derogatory name such as the NAACP? You miss the point that you refer to blacks as "colored people" still in the 21st Century. If you want to promote yourselves as better people, better your image first!! I'm not the only American that feels this way!

Why don't poorer Latino and White children get scholarships like are provided by the United Negro College Fund?

Why are the bad communities in big cities predominantly Hispanic and black? Why are 95% of fatal shootings in the city of Chicago on the South & West Sides and not the North Side? Those areas are the real problems to this country right now. Eliminating the unintelligent violence and neglect for others is what is hurting the culture most of all right now. The "N" word is the least of the issues.

You want to talk double standards, I can go all day. Whatever happened to earning your respect irregardless of race or ethnicity? Rev. Sharpton and his "hop-along Cassidy" cohort Jesse Jackson are doing worse things for the black community than you really comprehend them as doing. Get your priorities straight and stop taking media dribble like this to heart as the real issues in our society.

Posted at 4:25PM on Sep 5th 2007 by jman

87. Love the WET idea... such a double standard. Can anyone say REVERSE DISCRIMINATION??? It's amazing how we have Black History Month, and the NAACP, and BET... but yet, isn't it the black community that is always strving for eaquality? How is that equal??? Please someone tell me... tell me how it's equal when there can be organizations strictly for the Black community's benefit, but there can not be one for strictly the white community. And the whole N word debaucle, it will continue being used by the black community, but hey hon**y can still be used anytime anywhere or any other word for white people. This forum is ridiculous. I say bravo to Sharpton and the other guy who shut him down, it's about time they took an approach that was NOT a slap on the wrist against someone from the black community doing something hypocritical.

Posted at 7:34PM on Sep 5th 2007 by biggatyboo

88. HOTEP BRO. & SIS THANK GOD MY PEOPLE ARE WAKEING UP. IF U REALY WANT TO FREE YOUR MIND.TRY THIS WBLR.COM OR THETRUHCENTER.COM THIS BROTHER IS REAL.

Posted at 4:45PM on Dec 5th 2007 by HAROLD EVANS

89. THE N WORD IS VERY DERAGOTORY. MR GRAVES DID THE RIGHT MOVE.
WE MUST BE RESPECTED, WHICH MEANS WE MUST GIVE RESPECT.

Posted at 7:31PM on Sep 17th 2007 by JJ

90. I was at the Black Enterprise event when Eddie Griffin's performance was stopped. I commend Earl Graves for putting forth positive images of Black people. Griffin signed a contract to keep his act clean. He failed to do so, and he got the boot. He wouldn't have used that language on ABC, NBC or CBS. He thought that because the audience was Black he could get away with it. This guy might be the worst stand up in America.

Posted at 12:54AM on Sep 7th 2007 by Jason

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