Katt Williams is from my hometown. He has been held up on a
high pedestal for being one of the few that have made it out of our
small Ohio city and go on to have actually, really done something
amazing for themselves. The current roster contains his name, along with
John Legend and Dave Chappelle – and, as you can see, that totals only
three guys out there doing it. So to all of us on the home team, that is
saying a lot!
Katt took a city’s hopes and dreams and lived them out. It saddens
the community that he has spiraled down a murky path as of late, and
many hope that he will decide to return home so he can find insulation
and protection from those who apparently are preying on his sickness. To
many, he is just a comedian with problems, or maybe even one of the
funniest guys they know of, but where he’s from, he is a part of a
legacy. This is worth remembering, because the fear is that people will
be saying these words at his funeral if he doesn’t get some major help
soon.
I traveled to Seattle in the same week that Katt found himself
suddenly announcing his retirement. The fact that he did so in the
middle of the street, as he was being thrown out of yet another hotel in
the Seattle area, was sad. The fact that people in Seattle had formed a
very different opinion of his accomplishments than those from our
hometown – as a result of constant arrests and not being able to remain
sober enough to tell the jokes he was sent there to tell – was even
sadder. But knowing that Katt has reduced himself to being the punchline
in the jokes he used to tell about the people in Hollywood is the
saddest fact of all.
I spoke to Nicole Higgins of Seattle, and she expressed her
disappointment with the last three shows: “Every single time we paid to
go to his show, he either didn’t show up or was so out of it that he
couldn’t follow his own jokes! He would start to tell a story, and then
trail off and start saying things that made no sense. It was so weird!
He’d say ‘My mother is such a trip that, she umm, yeah, it’s just crazy
how that goes.’ We were looking at him like, ‘That isn’t a joke, that
wasn’t even a complete thought!’ He just couldn’t keep it together.”
Carlos Imaini of South Seattle said, “The rumor about last week’s
show was that he actually was backstage at the show that night, but was
allegedly so high that they couldn’t get him to physically walk up on
the stage, let alone leave him to entertain the crowd.”
If this is the case, and Katt was that terribly sick/high, that
serves as even more evidence that there are people out here who will
continue to push artists of all types to their deaths if they send
mentally unhealthy people out into the streets. Add the spotlights, and
you further showcase their illnesses. I mean, are they selling tickets
to concerts, or sideshow attractions? At the end of the day, stars like
Katt are human beings that have families and lives. They are being
treated as chattel. The exploiters know these people need help, but they
would rather make a buck off the morbid curiosity of onlookers. It’s
sad.
So, if Katt Williams returns to my little hometown in a coffin, there
will be plenty of “friends” and “colleagues” with blood on their hands.
Don’t pretend to care about this man if you stand by and watch as we
tragically lose him to his demons. Demonstrate that you love him by
getting him the help he needs now, before it’s too late. This nation
can’t take too many more fallen stars and funeral tears from those who
“loved” their meal tickets. If you really love Katt, tell him ‘no,’
before that option is gone, before Katt is gone. Don’t allow him to
continue to be a joke, when he used to master the art of the joke.
“It’s on your nose” stopped being funny a long while ago.Source all hip hop.com
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