Comedian Michael Richards apologizes for comments he made at a Los Angeles comedy club.
THE OFFENSE: "Shut up! Fifty years ago we'd have you upside down with a f------ fork up your a--...You can talk, you can talk, you're brave now Mother------. Throw his a-- out. He's a n-----!He's a n-----! He's a n-----! A n-----, look, there's a n-----!"
Between shows since the 1998 end of Seinfeld, Michael Richards let loose with a barrage of N-words after a couple of African-Americans in the audience heckled him at the Los Angeles stand-up comedy club Laugh Factory. The incident was captured on video and aired soon after, on Nov. 20, 2006, on the internet celebrity blog TMZ.com. Richards went on a talk-show tour apologizing for the viciousness of his reaction, including an uncomfortable appearance on David Letterman's show, where he was introduced by a sympathetic friend, Jerry Seinfeld.
THE APOLOGY: "For me to be at a comedy club and flip out and say this crap, I'm deeply, deeply sorry. I'm not a racist. That's what's so insane about this."