Seinfeld actor Michael Richards has claimed that ‘anger had a hold’ of him when he went on his infamous ‘racist rant’ during a stand-up performance at Los Angeles comedy club Laugh Factory nearly two decades ago.
In his first live television interview in ‘many, many years’, Richards, 74, sat down with Today host Hoda Kotb on Tuesday morning and admitted that he decided to ‘get away from showbusiness’ after his 2006 tirade, which saw him hurl racist slurs at hecklers in the audience.
When Kotb, 59, asked the Kramer star how he has changed since that night in November 2006, Richards replied: ‘Oh, the difference… [I’m] probably more aware of myself. Anger, looking at it very closely, it’s something that’s always with us, certainly with me.
‘[It’s] not as horrible as it was 18 years ago, anger had a hold of me, and I cancelled myself out. Take an exodus, get away from showbusiness and see what the heck is going on inside me to have been so despicable that night and losing my cool, and hurting people.’
Asked if he had made ‘amends’ since then, Richards responded: ‘I think so. Certainly getting to a place where I could forgive myself because I have to move on to be true blue about that,’ before opening up about his 2018 prostate cancer diagnosis.
Seinfeld actor Michael Richards has claimed that ‘anger had a hold’ of him when he went on his infamous ‘racist rant’ in 2006
The 74-year-old actor gave his first television interview in ‘many years’ and spoke to Today’s Hoda Kotb
‘I thought I was going to go, really, I had given into that,’ Richards said candidly. ‘Then I found out that if we move fast enough, we could get at the cancer, and I had a great surgeon at Cedar Sinai in Los Angeles.
‘Oh my, I made it, you know, I beat it. And that certainly motivated me to get at the book because I went through a big review of my life,’ he added, referring to his new memoir Entrances and Exits.
When Kotb asked him what he wants people to learn about him when they read the book, Richards replied: ‘Oh, that I’m human. There is a good, bad and an ugly coursing through all these things.
‘The entrances and the exits, what I come into, what I come out of, always so ongoing, a coming and a going. And just discovering myself along the way, it’s really a pleasure, it is hard work though.’
In a recent interview with People, Richards said of the incident: ‘My anger was all over the place and it came through hard and fast. 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.’
The three-time Emmy winner continued: ‘Crisis managers wanted me to do damage control. But as far as I was concerned, the damage was inside of me.’
Richards said that he believes his rage stemmed from his own insecurities and fears of not being accepted.
The father-of-two, who is married to Beth Skipp, insisted he is ‘not racist’ and has ‘nothing against Black people.’
During a stand up performance in November 2006, Richards hurled racist slurs at hecklers
His racist tirade took place at the comedy club Laugh Factory in Hollywood, Los Angeles
The actor is best known for playing Kramer in the hit TV sitcom Seinfeld alongside Jerry Seinfeld and Jason Alexander (right)
‘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,’ he explained.
In November 2006, shocking footage of Richards emerged of him repeatedly calling an audience member, who interrupted his act, a racial slur.
‘Throw his ass out…He’s a n*****! Look there’s a n*****!’ Richards can be heard saying in the video.
During his meltdown, Richards repeatedly branded black members of the audience ‘n******’ while yelling: ‘Fifty years ago we’d have you upside down with a f***ing fork up your a***.’
Following the shocking incident, he went on David Letterman to express his regret as he stated: ‘I’m really busted up over this and I’m very, very sorry. I am not a racist, that’s what’s so insane about this. I said some pretty nasty things to some African-Americans, a lot of trash talk.’
He continued: ‘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.’
It’s unclear whether or not Richards has any plans to return to acting. He last appeared on television 10 years ago when he starred in 12 episodes of the sitcom Kirstie alongside Kirstie Alley.
In 2019, he played the role of Daddy Hogwood in the romcom Faith, Hope & Love, which also starred Peta Murgatroyd and Robert Krantz.
Richards pictured with his second wife Beth Skipp in New York City in November 2010
The Curb Your Enthusiasm star has been married to ER actress Beth Skipp since 2010 and the couple share a teenage son named Antonio.
Richards was previously married to Cathleen Lyons, a family therapist, for 18 years and they have a daughter named Sophia. They separated in 1992 and divorced the following year.