Iconic 90s TV star speaks out on his infamous N-word meltdown 18 years later

Rarely has a TV character become as iconic as Michael Richards’ Cosmo Kramer on . 

From 1989 to 1999 Michael Richards and his unruly hair appeared on tens of millions of people’s screens, delighting and confusing fans with Kramer’s off-kilter antics and manic energy. 

But after cementing himself as a beloved fixture in American TV history, Richards complicated his own legacy in 2006 with a racist outburst at a comedy club, effectively ending his career. 

Now, nearly 20 years later, the actor and comedian has spoken at length about the infamous incident for the first time in his new memoir Entrances and Exits. 

He describes the fateful night an audience member at the Laugh Factory in Hollywood shouted ‘You’re not funny!’ during his stand-up set, a heckle Richards shockingly responded to by repeatedly calling the man the ‘N-word.’

A tape of his racist tirade quickly L***ed, swiftly turning the public against the actor. 

Richards explains in the book that the comedy set came shortly after the heartbreaking failure of his Seinfeld spinoff, The Michael Richards Show – a major ego hit that pushed him to try to break back into the stand-up comedy scene. 

Recounting the incident, Richards recalls that the audience at the show were ‘shocked by my anger and foul language.’ After the meltdown, Richards quickly felt regret and says he tried to find the man and ‘make peace,’ but the club had already asked him to leave and refunded his money.

‘Yeah, I said the N-word,’ Richards reflects. ‘And then some. What the hell’s the matter with me? Anger. Anger was the matter with me. I fucked up.’ When the footage leaks, Richards remembers thinking: ‘I have no defense. I blew it.’

In the wake of the incident, Richards says he was invited on Larry King to ‘tell your side of the story’ but he turned down every interview offer, instead appearing with Jerry Seinfeld via satellite on The Late Show with David Letterman. 

During the brief interview, Richards offered his ‘sincere apology.’ But he knew, even then, that it was going to be nearly impossible to recover from the Scan**l. 

‘I have work to do,’ he said, eventually revealing that after the comedy show he went to Mexico to isolate and ‘begin his spiritual journey.’ 

Entrances and Exits comes out June 6.