Katt Williams: Patriot or Prick? | Valley Fever | Phoenix | Phoenix New Times | The Leading Independent News Source in Phoenix, Arizona
Navigation

Katt Williams: Patriot or Prick?

If you're unfamiliar with the ongoing Katt Williams saga, allow us to get you up to speed...For starters, let's just clarify who Katt Williams is: he's not Eddie Griffin. He's a D+(maybe C-)-list celebrity comedian. He's the type of celebrity you may know exists, you realize he's famous, but you're...
Share this:

If you're unfamiliar with the ongoing Katt Williams saga, allow us to get you up to speed...

For starters, let's just clarify who Katt Williams is: he's not Eddie Griffin. He's a D+(maybe C-)-list celebrity comedian. He's the type of celebrity you may know exists, you realize he's famous, but you're not sure why. In other words, there's a good chance you've never heard of him. If that's the case, feel free to have a look at his Wikipedia page here.

Last month, Williams went on an anti-Hispanic tirade during a performance in Phoenix, which you can see by click here (spoiler alert: he tells a Hispanic guy to go back to Mexico, "nigga").

Civil rights leaders then went nuts, particularly Valley leader Jarrett Maupin, who immediately called on Williams to apologize under threat of a boycott of all things Katt Williams.

Then, it appeared, Williams caved -- through his publicist, he issued the following statement:

"My remarks were not to be offensive. I want to apologize if my comedy act was taken out of context. I sincerely appreciate my fans within the Mexican community and would never intentionally go out of my way to offend them."

Maupin accepted the apology on behalf of Phoenix's Hispanic community -- and all was well.

Then Williams threw a curve ball: with the incident basically behind him, Williams went on CNN and recanted his apology, pegging the initial apology on publicists who don't speak on his behalf.

"They put out a DVD called Katt Williams: Nine Lives while I was in jail without my permission," Williams explains to CNN, suggesting his handlers don't necessarily speak for him.

Now, Maupin has recanted his acceptance of Williams's faux-apology -- and the boycott's back on.

Williams explains away his comments during his performance as an act of patriotism -- he says the heckler he told to go back to Mexico started the heckling with something along the lines of "fuck America." Williams says he was just defending the country's honor.

See Williams recant his apology here.

Maupin, however, tells New Times he chalks up Williams' "patriotism" to nothing more than "BS" that should be reserved for members of the Tea Party.

We want to know what you think: is Katt Williams a patriot, or a total prick for throwing fuel on a fire that was basically out?

Cast your vote below.

KEEP NEW TIMES FREE... Since we started New Times, it has been defined as the free, independent voice of Phoenix, and we'd like to keep it that way. Your membership allows us to continue offering readers access to our incisive coverage of local news, food, and culture with no paywalls. You can support us by joining as a member for as little as $1.