"Seinfeld" star Michael Richards is not looking for a redemption arc -- even though he's finally coming out of hiding -- but he does want to clarify a few things related to his infamous Hollywood Laugh Factory incident.
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00:00 Welcome back to a very famous face that we haven't seen in almost decades.
00:06 Michael Richards, of course, one of the stars of Seinfeld, Kramer, who really went underground and has not, with a few exceptions--
00:17 Rarely seen.
00:18 Rarely has been out--
00:19 For 18 years.
00:20 Since 2006, when he had the meltdown on stage at the Laugh Factory. You know, of course, this was the moment that a heckler was yelling at him, and he yelled back, shouting the N-word several times.
00:33 Repeatedly.
00:34 And a few other epithets. So, he's back now, and he's back because he's written a memoir. And, obviously, that is part of the memoir. He does talk about that incident.
00:46 And it's interesting because it's almost a double entendre. Entrances and exits. That's what he was famous for on the show, on Seinfeld. But it also kind of tracks with what happened here.
00:57 Talking about his career and what happened after that.
01:00 So, he's been doing some media where he's talking about this. And it is interesting for someone who's been out of the spotlight for, like I said, almost 20 years.
01:10 But he knows that he still has to talk about-- There's no way that Michael Richards comes back and doesn't talk about it.
01:16 Charles, let's get to this because this is actually-- Charles and I were talking about this earlier. It's stunning.
01:22 It's really interesting. This is what he said to people about that night. 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."
01:38 Okay. Can I-- I know you've got a lot to say. The only thing I've got to say is he was thinking about this for 18 years. And the idea that--
01:48 And that's the way you're going to come back and say-- I just-- Listen. I've thought about this a lot because from time to time you're walking around Hollywood, you may bump into people.
01:57 And I've thought to myself, "What would I say or do if I happen to be standing next to Michael Richards somewhere? How would I feel about it?"
02:06 And I do want to believe he is not racist. I don't know him so I can't say for a fact. But take him at his word here where he says, "I'm not racist."
02:14 But then why, when you wanted to put someone down-- and I get it. He's a heckler.
02:18 You go to that word.
02:20 Right. And you say that your intent was to put him down so you went to that word. Well, if you go to that word as the first thing to put someone down--
02:32 Yeah, you're racist.
02:33 It's hard to say that this doesn't jive necessarily. I don't know.
02:37 Right. If-- Yeah. I mean, I don't think there's any other explanation. If that's your first inclination and that's the thing you're going to go to first to hurt someone's feelings, obviously that's something that you think and you have internalized inside.
02:50 I don't-- I get it. He wants to sell books and he's got to talk about it. I just don't see how this holds any weight and I don't think it-- I think people hear this explanation and say it's nonsense.
02:59 What I find fascinating is I would love to know the interaction between Michael Richards and his editor and the publishing house because somebody has got to look at that and say--
03:12 Well--
03:13 But that--
03:14 But that's not from the book. That was an interview he did with People. So I don't know exactly how he spells it out in the book.
03:19 That's fair.
03:20 And it would be--
03:21 But you would think it would align.
03:22 Yes. But it seems like that's his thought process on it.
03:24 Yeah, I'm sorry, Charles. He talks about in the book how he had a rough upbringing and at times he was very angry that he didn't feel worthy of all of this adulation that he had been offered these really cool opportunities to work, to host SNL, to have a star on the Walk of Fame.
03:40 And that he essentially paints the picture of somebody who hated himself and it just came out in the worst possible way.
03:46 Hello, my name is Honor Williams and I am in New York, New York. I appreciate that Michael Richards is finally addressing the incident. I hope he's also done the work to address his insecurities within the entertainment industry.
03:58 And upon reading his book, I hope that he has addressed this further and I wish him the best as he returns to the limelight.
04:05 Yeah, he has done a lot of work. I mean, he did a lot of self-reflection. He got professional help. He did a lot of things.
04:11 He's feeling comfortable. By the way, he was also, I don't know if you've seen this recently, he was at Seinfeld's premiere for Unfrost.
04:18 And he's in Frost.
04:19 And he's in Frost as well.
04:20 Yeah, and he's in it.
04:21 [music]