The Seinfeld star stopped by the daytime talk show, where he opened up about his racist outburst against a group of Black hecklers at a comedy show in 2006.
“Well, I’m onstage with a microphone in my hand doing an act, breaking in material, it’s late at night,” he explained when Sunny Hostin asked him what happened that fateful night. “A man in the audience made an announcement. I’m not funny — he doesn’t think I’m very funny. I came back.”
Richards continued, “First, I must say, I’m not a normal man … There’s a lot of eccentricity going on in my kind of comedy. Certainly, I could’ve never created a character like Kramer without being slightly touched. So I went into character. I work in a comedy club environment where the N-word is used a lot. And I decided I would let it loose.”
Behar, a fellow comedian, noted that the racial slur is “not used anymore” in comedy, as “those days are over.”
“For me, they certainly are,” Richards replied, to which Behar said, “For everybody.”
After Richards’ rant went viral, he became somewhat of a recluse.
“By the way, cancel culture, I canceled myself out … The rage just channeled into a character,” he told the panel. “I felt like I got hit, so I’m hitting back. That person went low, I’m going lower.”
“Anger is quite a force. But it happened,” he said. “Rather than run from it, I dove into the deep end and tried to learn from it. It hasn’t been easy. Crisis managers wanted me to do damage control. But as far as I was concerned, the damage was inside of me.”
He added, “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.”
The View airs on weekdays at 11/10c on ABC.
For more entertainment news and streaming recommendations, visit decider.com
Get updates delivered to you daily. Free and customizable.
Welcome to NewsBreak, an open platform where diverse perspectives converge. Most of our content comes from established publications and journalists, as well as from our extensive network of tens of thousands of creators who contribute to our platform. We empower individuals to share insightful viewpoints through short posts and comments. It’s essential to note our commitment to transparency: our Terms of Use acknowledge that our services may not always be error-free, and our Community Standards emphasize our discretion in enforcing policies. We strive to foster a dynamic environment for free expression and robust discourse through safety guardrails of human and AI moderation. Join us in shaping the news narrative together.
Comments / 0