Michael Richards Goes On Radio To Apologize For Racist Outburst

Michael Richards went on Rev. Jesse Jackson’s nationally syndicated radio program Sunday, and his messages were simple: I’m not a racist, and I’m sorry.

Richards said he was “shattered” by the comments he made to two young black men during a tirade at a Los Angeles comedy club last week, and his appearance on “Keep Hope Alive” was the latest in a series of apologies for the incident.

He told Jackson it was the first time such words had come from him.

“That’s why I’m shattered by it. The way this came through me was like a freight train. After it was over, when I went to look for them, they had gone. And I’ve tried to meet them, to talk to them, to get some healing,” he said.

Richards, who played wacky neighbour Kramer on the hit sitcom “Seinfeld,” was performing at West Hollywood’s Laugh Factory when he lashed out at hecklers with a string of racial obscenities and profane language. The ugly exchange was captured on a cell phone camera and leaked to the Internet.

Sunday, the comedian said the tirade was fuelled by anger, not bigotry. He said he wanted to hurt those who had hurt him.

“I was in a place of humiliation,” he said.

His publicist, Howard Rubenstein, said Richards has begun counselling in Los Angeles in an attempt to manage his anger.

“He acknowledged that his statements were harmful and opened a terrible racial wound in our nation,” Rubenstein said. “He pledges never ever to say anything like that again. He’s quite remorseful.”

Richards only defence was that the racial epithet in question is frequently used in the entertainment industry, and he said his outburst was proof of the danger inherent in that reality.

“I fear that young whites will think it’s cool to go around and use that word because they see very cool people in the show business using that word so freely,” he said. “Perhaps that’s what came through in that … the vernacular is so accessible.”