‘Seinfeld’ costar apologizes for racial slurs at comedy club

Comic Michael Richards apologized Monday for a Friday-night tirade during his stand-up show at the Laugh Factory in Hollywood during which he used profanities and racial slurs directed at blacks.

The 57-year-old actor who gained fame as Kramer, the wacky neighbor on “Seinfeld,” offered his apology during an appearance on CBS’ “The Late Show With David Letterman.” It was taped in the afternoon and wound up on the “CBS Evening News With Katie Couric.”

“I was at a comedy club trying to do my act, and I got heckled and I took it badly and went into a rage,” he said. “For me to be in a comedy club and flip out and say this crap, I’m deeply, deeply sorry. I’m not a racist. That’s what’s so insane about this.”

Richards’ appearance on “The Late Show” came during a segment with Jerry Seinfeld, who had previously been scheduled as a guest and, after Friday’s outburst, invited his former costar to join him via satellite. Seinfeld earlier had been quoted as saying Richards’ remarks at the Laugh Factory sickened him and calling the episode a “horrible mistake.”

Richards’ apology wandered at times, and Letterman interrupted him to ask how he would have responded had the hecklers been white.

“You know, I’m a performer. I push the envelope; I work in a very uncontrolled manner on stage. I do a lot of free association, it’s spontaneous, I go into character,” Richards said. “The rage did go all over the place. It went to everybody in the room.... I’m not a racist, that’s what’s so insane about this, and yet it’s said, it comes through, it fires out of me and even now, in the passion that’s here as I confront myself.”

In a blurry cellphone video of the Friday night performance, Richards shouts “Shut up!” at two hecklers and makes a racially offensive remark, sparking gasps from the audience, which triggers even more epithets from Richards. As one person shouts, “That was uncalled for,” Richards replies, “Well, you interrupted me, pal. That’s what happens when you interrupt the white man.” A video of the angry exchange could be seen at TMZ.com and CNN.com.

The language Richards used caused some observers to compare it to the anti-Semitic outburst by Mel Gibson after his arrest on drunk driving charges in July, with some predicting it would mark the end of Richards’ career.

Other comedians were critical of the way Richards handled the hecklers.

“Richards should’ve used a standard -- nonracist -- heckler response, such as, ‘I thought I told you to wait in the test tube,’ ” said humorist Paul Krassner.

Comedian Paul Rodriguez, who was at the Laugh Factory during Richards’ performance, said he was shocked at the use of an offensive racial epithet.

“Once the word comes out of your mouth and you don’t happen to be African American, then you have a whole lot of explaining,” Rodriguez told CNN. “Freedom of speech has its limitations, and I think Michael Richards found those limitations.”

Laugh Factory owner Jamie Masada offered his own apology Monday, and the club issued a statement saying it would not be offering Richards more time in the spotlight.

“We have made it clear that Mr. Richards is no longer welcomed here,” the statement said. “The Laugh Factory is a comedy club, not a forum for personal attacks.”

Richards costarred on “Seinfeld” from 1989 to 1998 and had his own NBC sitcom, “The Michael Richards Show,” in 2000.

lynn.smith@latimes.com

Times staff writer Paul Brownfield and wire service reports contributed to this report.

An earlier version of this story in today’s Calendar went to press before Richards apologized.