LAUGH FACTORY WANTS JESSE TO PAY FOR N-WORD: Owner Jamie Masada says he should pay a fine like comics on his stage.

Laugh Factory owner Jamie Masada, who has had some experience in dealing with the N-word spewing forth from his stage, says Jesse Jackson should be fined for his recent public use of the racist term.


After the Michael Richards episode two years ago, when the actor repeatedly shouted the N-word at a black patron, Rev. Jackson joined Masada in calling for the term to be banned at the Laugh Factory.

Since the outburst, Masada has fined comics $50 for every time they use the word on stage.

LAUGH FACTORY WANTS JESSE TO PAY FOR N-WORD....

Fox: Jackson Used N-Word in Off-Air Remarks

By: Sophia Tareen, Associated Press

CHICAGO (AP) For decades, the Rev. Jesse Jackson has rallied against the use of the N-word -- an ethnic slur he has repeatedly told the American public is hateful and degrading. But Fox News confirmed to The Associated Press Wednesday that the longtime civil rights activist used the term in what Jackson thought was a private conversation during a break from a TV interview.

Jackson has already come under fire this month for crude off-air comments he made against presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama that were recorded during a taping of a "Fox & Friends" news show.

Fox: Jackson Used N-Word in Off-Air Remarks....

N-WORD SHUTS DOWN 'RAGTIME' IN THE PARK: District in Chicago suburb cancels outdoor play fearing passersby wouldn't get context of slur.

Officials in suburban Chicago's Wilmette Park District shut down a planned outdoor staging of the play Ragtime, citing concerns that passersby on the park grounds would take offense to the N-word, which is used several times in the script and score.


"We had grave concerns that people would take the language they heard over the amplified sound system out of context from a performance that was being held in the bowl," Wilmette Park District executive director Tom Grisamore told the Pioneer Press.


The district got the rights to present Ragtime in January, but the content of the show was not examined until recently. Grisamore announced the play's cancellation on June 25.


"This is something we very honestly should have known about and hopefully we could have acted on this sooner, but we did as soon as we found out what was there," said Grisamore.

N-WORD SHUTS DOWN 'RAGTIME' IN THE PARK....

KWAME KILPATRICK SLAMMED FOR USING N-WORD: Detroit Mayor viewed as hypocrite in the wake of last summer's symbolic burial.

Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is being called a hypocrite after using the N-word while speaking to reporters about his treatment since sexually-explicit text messages he sent to his former aide came to light.


"In the past 30 days, I've been called a nigger more than anytime in my entire life," said Kilpatrick, 37. "In the past three days, I've received more death threats than I have in my entire administration."


Kilpatrick's use of the slur drew a sharp response from state Attorney General Mike Cox, who called it "race-baiting on par with David Duke and George Wallace" on Wednesday and said the mayor should step down for the good of the city and region, reports the Associated Press.


"What he said cannot be unsaid, and he is not fit to be mayor anymore," Cox, who is white, said in an interview on WJR-AM. "He's a very talented guy, but he has overstayed his day. He should resign, he should quit, whether he's charged or not."


Kilpatrick faces possible perjury charges from testimony during a whistle-blowers' trial and criticism over the text messages he sent to his former top aide, Christine Beatty. In a trial over a lawsuit against the city brought by two police officers who said they were wrongly fired, Kilpatrick and Beatty denied under oath that they had been romantically involved.


Kilpatrick spokesman James Canning said of the mayor's use of the N-word: "He was explaining to the citizens of Detroit the situation he and his family have been put in by some very vile individuals who have decided they will thrust upon he and his family some very threatening forms of communications."

Some black leaders criticized Kilpatrick, saying he chose the wrong forum and wrong language for his outburst.

"It most especially was not a place to use the same word that, supposedly, we buried last summer," said the Rev. Edgar Vann, pastor of Second Ebenezer Baptist Church in Detroit. "You can make references to it without using it."

But others said the context in which the mayor used the word should be considered.

"He was trying to make a point. He wasn't using it in the typical vernacular," said Richard J. McIntire, the national spokesman for the NAACP.

At a gathering in Detroit last July to symbolically bury the N-word, Kilpatrick stood before hundreds of people and proclaimed: "Die, N-word, and we don't want to see you 'round here no more."