Michael Richards is addressing his racist outburst 18 years after the incident.
The Seinfeld actor has been out of the spotlight since the 2006 incident where he was recorded using the n-word and racial slurs while at the Laugh Factory in L.A. Richards made a rare appearance at the premiere of Jerry Seinfeld’s Netflix film Unfrosted and is about to release a memoir titled Entrances and Exits.
In a new interview with People, he acknowledges that he doesn’t expect people to forget the incident, adding, “I’m not looking for a comeback.”
“My anger was all over the place, and it came through hard and fast,” he continued. “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.”
Richards said that crisis management wanted him to do some damage control to save his image but noted that “the damage was inside of me.”
Reflecting on the night he lashed out at the hecklers, he said, “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.”
Richards reflected on turning down offers following the success of Seinfeld, signs that he was not doing well.
“I said no to the offer of a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. I didn’t feel deserving,” he said. “I said no to hosting Saturday Night Live twice because I didn’t feel good enough. I was never really satisfied with my Seinfeld performance. Fame magnified my insecurities.”