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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.
