DVD rush despite racist rant

Black rights leaders in America had called for a boycott of the newly released seventh series in the wake of the comic’s on-stage tirade at a Hollywood comedy club.

But the appeal has fallen on deaf ears, as sales of the title on Amazon rocketed almost 70-fold – 6,925 per cent, to be precise.

A spokesman for the online retailer said: ‘It seems there's no such thing as bad publicity.’

The story is repeated in America where Sales of series seven are up 75 per cent over season six and 90 per cent over season five in their first week of sales, according to US website DVD Empire. DeepDiscountDVD.com reports an even stronger showing – a staggering 178 per cent increase over season six, which was released this time last year.

Rev Jesse Jackson had called for fans to boycott the box set after Richards appeared on his radio show to try to apologise for his racist rant at hecklers at LA’s Laugh Factory.

Jackson also called for the entertainment industry, particularly rappers, to stop using the word ‘nigger’ in the aftermath of Richards’ abuse. He said: ‘We want to give our ancestors a present. Dignity over degradation.’

Meanwhile, the venue, which before the scandal broke had invited Richards back on stage, has now banned the offending word from their venue.

And, according to American TV news show The Insider, the owners want Richards to pay $6 million to charity – $1 million for each time he used the derogatory word on their stage.

Richards, who claims to be seeing a psychiatrist to control his rage, has made no further comment on the scandal.

• Amazon has also released details of the biggest-selling Christmas gifts across Britain, which found that Peter Kay’s memoirs The Sound Of Laughter was the most popular gift in Manchester.

Published: 29 Nov 2006