Racial slur used again, rued again

Two weeks after Michael Richards assaulted the nation’s senses with his racist tirade at the Laugh Factory, another white comic has apologized for using the same racial slur while cracking jokes at L.A.’s Improv comedy club.

Andy Dick, a stand-up comic and former costar of the 1990s sitcom “NewsRadio,” was outed by celebrity website www.TMZ.comon Tuesday for hopping onstage while comedian Ian Bagg was doing his routine Saturday and dropping the N-bomb on club-goers.

“Andy was heckling comedian Ian Bagg during his routine, when Dick allegedly got out of his seat, jumped onstage and began joking with Bagg,” according to the website. “The subject of Michael Richards came up, but the two comics quickly moved past it. As Dick exited the stage, he suddenly grabbed the mike and shouted at the crowd, ‘You’re all a bunch of ...’ ” -- using the same racial slur that got Richards in trouble.

The stunned people in the audience gasped and stared at one another, TMZ reported.

An Improv manager declined to comment on the incident Tuesday except to confirm Dick’s presence at the club that night. Dick issued an apology through his publicist Tuesday afternoon.

“I chose to make a joke about a subject that is not funny,” the statement said. “In an attempt to make light of a serious subject, I have offended a lot of people, and I am sorry for my insensitivity. I wish to apologize to Ian, to the club and its patrons and to anyone who was hurt or offended by my remark.”

Dick’s representatives said TMZ’s account was “out of context and not what happened.”

Richards, a former costar on “Seinfeld,” also has issued several public apologies and has agreed to meet next month with the four African American men he targeted during his racial epithet-filled outburst at the Laugh Factory on Nov. 17.

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maria.elena.fernandez@latimes.com