Michael Richards Claims He Was Playing ‘Idiot Who’s A Racist’ During 2006 Tirade

Michael Richards returned to a stage in front of a live audience for the first time since 2006 on Wednesday. It’s not hard to understand why he stayed away. His last appearance at the Laugh Factory ended with an ugly explosion directed at a group of “you’re not funny!” hecklers, a shocking tirade peppered with n-words and other racial slurs. Richards, with the awkward help of Jerry Seinfeld, delivered an uncomfortable apology on David Letterman, then largely disappeared from view.

After last year’s release of his memoir, Entrances and Exits, Richards slowly returned to talk-show appearances. While those interviews are time-limited and controlled, the Seinfeld star was in a less inhibited environment for his live show, Michael Richards: An Evening of Conversations, Questions and Answers. His memoir collaborator, Todd Gold, was on hand to moderate and asked Richards about that night at the Laugh Factory, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Richards could have used Gold’s editing help on Wednesday. First, he described the incident as if he were an impish kid who got caught with his hand in the cookie jar: “I was in a comedy club, and I was a very naughty, naughty man.”

A naughty man who told a Black audience member, “Fifty years ago, we would have had you upside down with a fucking fork up your ass!”

The next part of Richards’ tale gets to the heart of it. “That night, doing my act, I got interrupted, got heckled, and I really took it in the wrong way,” he admitted. “It went really bad, and I said some awful things.”

But rather than concede that he’d simply let his temper get the best of him, Richards tried to play off the racist rant as a stand-up bit. “I was trying to lift it into comedy, believe it or not, playing this idiot who’s a racist.”

You have to hand it to Richards — his “idiot who’s a racist” character was very convincing. Less credible was the explanation that he was workshopping a wacky new comic persona, rather than simply letting his rage fly.

Richards then put some of the blame on his improvisational stand-up style. “I don’t really work with an act, I’m very loose on stage, very loosey-goosey,” he said. “That goosey got me into some trouble.”

Yep, it’s the goosey’s fault.

While Richards’ shocking display was sensational tabloid fodder, the actor revealed an inflated view of what his diatribe might inflict on the United States. “I thought the whole country was going to go into a Civil War because suddenly the guy who plays the beloved Kramer, this wacko, was on stage throwing around the N-word,” he confessed.

Somehow, America survived.