Subscribe
Follow Us
Michael Richards, who played Kramer on Seinfeld, spoke out about his remarks from years ago that essentially removed him from the limelight.
TODAY's Hoda Kotb interviewed the star, discussing the incident and his actions to move forward. It's the first time he's had a sit-down interview in years.
“Anger had a hold of me,” the actor said. “I canceled myself out. Take an exodus, get away from show business, and see what the heck is going on inside me to have been so despicable that night, losing my cool and hurting people.”
He's referring to an incident in 2006 at the comedy club Laugh Factory in Los Angeles. While onstage, he was filmed hurling racist insults that included the N-word to a group of hecklers. Ever since then, he hasn't worked, except for a few guest appearances like on Curb Your Enthusiasm and Jerry Seinfeld's Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee.
When asked if he's made amends for the incident, he said, “I think so.”
Richards added, “Certainly getting to a place where I could forgive myself because I have to move on and be true blue about that.”
Recently, he told PEOPLE, “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.”
He added, “Crisis managers wanted me to do damage control. But as far as I was concerned, the damage was inside of me.”
Throughout it all, he insists he's not a racist.
On David Letterman following the incident, he said, “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.”
Article Continues Below
Micahel Richards discussed cancer diagnoses
He also talked about his cancer diagnosis in 2018 on the TODAY interview.
“I thought I was going to go, really,” the comedian said. “I had given into that. And then I found out that if we move fast enough, we could get at the cancer. I made it. I beat it, and that certainly motivated me to get at the book because I went through a big review of my life.”
The book is a new memoir titled Entrances and Exits, which came out today. It's a glimpse into his life, with all its highs and lows.
On what he hopes people get from the book, he said, “That I'm human. There's a good, bad and an ugly coursing through all these things. Striving to be a better person.”
“Just discovering myself along the way,” he continued. “It's really a pleasure. It's hard work, though, in dealing with the living and the dying, I think, when I got close to that four and a half years ago.”
Michael Richards seems to be moving forward, and it's good to hear him own up to his comments. After this book release and his post-Seinfeld career, we'll see what's next for him.
