People: So, it’s Kramer vs. Kramer
One question getting lost in the hubbub over Michael Richards‘ racist rant during a stand-up routine: How is this all going to affect Kramer?
No, not the fictional nutjob Richards played on “Seinfeld.” We’re talking Kenny Kramer, the real-life inspiration for the TV character.
“I don’t see how it could hurt me. I didn’t say any of these things,” says Kramer, who conducts weekend Kramer Reality Tours of “Seinfeld” landmarks in New York City.
“I think it’s going to help,” he adds. “I’m getting all this publicity!”
Richards has apologized for his profanity-laced tirade against two black hecklers – insisting, “I’m not a racist” – while critics compare it to Mel Gibson‘s anti-Semitic statements following a drunk driving arrest.
“Rehab could be a career move (for Richards) at this point, even if he doesn’t need it,” says Kramer, himself a longtime stand-up comic.
“But obviously Michael is not as big a star as Gibson.”
Quit sniping at him
Wesley Snipes says he’s being unfairly targeted by federal prosecutors who indicted him on tax fraud charges.
“It appears I’m to be the scapegoat, because there’s more public interest in ‘celebrities gone bad’ than ‘rich people being taken advantage of,’ ” Snipes says in an e-mail to an Orlando Sentinel columnist.
Snipes, said to be in Namibia filming a movie, is accused of fraudulently claiming refunds totaling nearly $12 million and failing to file returns from 1999 through 2004.
Clouds on the horizon?
Newlyweds Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes have arrived in the Indian Ocean island chain of the Maldives for their honeymoon.
“It has been raining heavily the past week and there are predictions of scattered showers. However, right now there is sunshine,” a government spokesman said.
Cruise, 44, and Holmes, 27, exchanged wedding vows Saturday in a 15th-century castle outside Rome. To make things legally binding, they also married in Los Angeles before leaving.
Spin city
Magician David Blaine will be shackled to a gyroscope in Times Square this afternoon and have until Friday morning to make his escape.
If he’s successful, he’ll lead 100 children selected by The Salvation Army on a shopping spree at a Target store.
“This challenge is close to my heart,” says Blaine, who received clothing from The Salvation Army while he was growing up.
The float lady sings
Yes, that’s internationally renowned opera star Renee Fleming you’ll see along with Super Grover, SpongeBob SquarePants and Healthy Mr. Potato Head in this morning’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade.
In addition to being “a terrible holiday junkie,” Fleming explains: “I live on the block where the balloons are blown up. It’s an unavoidable part of my world.”
The birthday bunch
Actor Robert Vaughn (“The Man from U.N.C.L.E.”) is 74. Comedian-director Terry Gilliam is 66. Actor Richard Kind (“Spin City”) is 50. Actress Jamie Lee Curtis is 48. Actress Mariel Hemingway is 45. Actress Scarlett Johannson is 22.