Seinfeld’s Michael Richards Tries To Apologize On Late Night TV

The words Michael Richards used to a North American audience Monday night were very different than the ones he spewed at a comedy club in Los Angeles last Friday.

The former Seinfeld star went on the David Letterman Show to offer an agonizing and strange apology for his actions at the L.A. venue.

Richards was caught on camera going into a racist rage against several audience members who heckled him during his act, catcalling that he “wasn’t funny” and accusing him of being washed up after his one sitcom success.

The 57-year-old confessed that he has a ‘lot of work’ to do on himself and admitted he had no idea where the intense anger came from.

But he insisted what audience members saw wasn’t the real man.

“I lost my temper on stage,” he explained. “I was at the comedy club trying to do my act and I got heckled and I took it badly and went into a rage. For me to be at a comedy club and flip out and say this crap, you know, I am deeply, deeply sorry.”

He insists he doesn’t believe in any of the vitriol that came spewing out of his mouth at the Laugh Factory, including references to civil rights abuses of blacks and the use of the “N” word.

But when asked what he might have said if the offenders had been white, Richards seemed lost for a reply.

The appearance was clearly uncomfortable for both the comic and the audience, who didn’t seem to know how to react. At one point, some members broke into laughter as the clearly disturbed actor tried to make his amends.

Pal and former co-star Jerry Seinfeld, who was on the show and arranged for his friend’s satellite appearance, admonished the audience to “stop laughing”, noting “this isn’t funny.”

It was one time the laughter wasn’t what the man who played Kramer was looking for.

“I’m hearing your audience laugh and I’m not even sure that this is where I should be addressing the situation,” he worried.

Many in Hollywood have reacted to the Richards’ outburst in the same way they did to Mel Gibson’s anti-Semitic rant during his arrest in Malibu last July.

Publicist Jerry Levine, who has handled the careers of often controversial greats like Sam Kinison and George Carlin, believes any chance Richards had of a comeback is gone for good.
 
“I’ve never seen anything like this in my life,” he outlines. “I think it’s a career ruiner for him. … It’s going to be a long road back for him, if at all.”

Other comedians concede his appearance was no laughing matter.

“That was the worst apology I’ve ever seen,” complains Sinbad. “It was a piece of trash. You can’t go on Letterman. That’s the punk way out.”

To see the video, click here.

To review what Richards said, click here.