Michael Richards became well-known across the globe thanks to his role on Seinfeld where he played Cosmo Kramer. He also worked as a standup comedian but put a pause on that before returning to the stage later. However, things didn’t work out well for him. In 2006, he got himself into a horrible mess after he was filmed abusing his Black audience members and hurling racial slurs at them.
At a stand-up show in Los Angeles, Michael Richards was heckled by a group of Black men sitting in the audience and as a response, the comedian berated the men, which obviously did not end well for him. After the video went viral, he found himself on the receiving end of backlash which caused him to retire from stand-up comedy. Recently, the actor opened up about the incident, once again.
What Happened at Michael Richards’ Stand-Up in 2006?
After the group of men interrupted Michael Richards’ show, the comedian couldn’t suppress his anger and he ended up giving a reaction that was uncalled for. He taunted them stating that if they were fifty years in the past, things would’ve been totally different.
TMZ got hold of the video showcasing Richards’ anger at full display and posted it to their website where he was seen stating things like,
Shut up! Fifty years ago we’d have you upside down with a f*cking fork up your a*s… You can talk, you can talk, you’re brave now motherf**ker. Throw his a*s out. He’s a n*****!
Richard then screamed the N-word a few more times before turning to a confused and upset audience and stating that now he’d be arrested for “calling a Black man n*****.”
In the viral video, you can clearly see many audience members walking out of the show in utter disgust. And now, about eighteen years later, Richards is once again here to defend himself, apologize, and give clarification for his choice of words.
Michael Richards Revisits His Controversy
Richards made a public appearance at the Hollywood premiere of his old colleague Jerry Seinfeld’s movie, Unfrosted. Needless to say, fans were a bit shocked to see the actor making an appearance since he has been keeping a low profile. This was one of the rare times when Richards was seen on a major red carpet since the debacle.
The actor will soon be out with his memoir, Entrances and Exits, but he wants to let the people know that he is not looking for a comeback.
Speaking with People, Richards stated,
I’m not racist. I have nothing against Black people. The man who told me I wasn’t funny had just said what I’d been saying to myself for a while. I felt put down. I wanted to put him down. My anger was all over the place and it came through hard and fast.
He added that since he cannot change the past, he decided not to run from it but rather, learn from it.
Anger is quite a force. But it happened. Rather than run from it, I dove into the deep end and tried to learn from it. It hasn’t been easy. Crisis managers wanted me to do damage control. But as far as I was concerned, the damage was inside of me.
Richards added that he had spent the last eighteen years working on himself and figuring out where “all the anger was coming from.” In the end, he figured out that it was his own insecurity that was to be blamed.
You can stream Seinfeld on Netflix and Michael Richards’ memoir, Entrances and Exits, will be released on June 03, 2024.
