Michael Richards Tells ‘The View’: “I’m Not A Normal Man,” Describes Rage That Led To Racist Outburst

Greg Evans
·3-min read

UPDATE, with video: Michael Richards visited The View today and revisited the 2006 racist comedy club outburst that led to a decades-long withdrawal from the public eye.

Greeted with a warm “Welcome back, man,” by old friend and View moderator Whoopi Goldberg, Richards, promoting his new memoir Entrances and Exits, and the panelists wasted little time before addressing the still-hot topic.

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Co-host Sunny Hostin broached the subject: “Let me just start by saying I don’t believe in cancel culture, I believe in consequence culture, and you’ve paid a lot of consequences.” She then asked what he was thinking at the Laugh Factory in Los Angeles in 2006 when he responded to a Black heckler with a repeated use of the n-word.

Watch a View video clip below.

“Well, I’m on stage with a microphone in my hand,” Richards said, “doing an act, breaking in material, it’s late at night, and a man in the audience made an announcement that I’m not funny, he doesn’t think I’m very funny.

“First,” he continued, “I must say, look, I’m not a normal man. A lot of eccentricity going on in my kind of comedy. I could never have created a character like Kramer without being slightly touched. So I went into character, and I work in a comedy club environment where the n-word is used a lot and I decided I would let it loose.”

The Seinfeld actor went on to describe his issues with rage. “When that rage came about, and the rage is channeled into a character…that got me deeper into hell. I felt I got hit so I hit back. That person went low so I’m going lower. I’m very emotional about it, after 18 years you can feel it…”

When Richards said the n-word was used “a lot” in comedy clubs of the era, co-host Joy Behar interjected, “It’s not used anymore. Those days are over.”

“For me,” Richards added, “they certainly are.”

Asked by Behar whether he still feels rage, Richards responded, “Anger is still around, it’s the color of my fur. I went personal, personal then I started seeing it collectively and the rage behind the wars and I’m there in a club making war on my fellow man.”

Richards also spoke about his 2008 prostate cancer diagnosis and his progress since then. “Well, I’m healthy. But at first I thought that’s it, I’m out of here. Then I looked at my family and certainly my nine-year-old son and said Gee, I’d really like to hang around for a little longer. So when I had the surgery, it worked. So I’m around, and here I am.”

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