Michael Richards could have Laugh Factory ban lifted years after racist tirade
Nearly 20 years after he erupted in a racist rant at the venue, ‘Seinfeld’ actor Michael Richards could have his Laugh Factory comedy club ban lifted.
Michael Richards could have his Laugh Factory comedy club ban lifted years after his infamous racist rant at the venue.
The ‘Seinfeld’ actor, 74, who made a fortune and was skyrocketed to global fame playing Kramer on the hit comedy sitcom was filmed unleashing a tirade of racial slurs during a stand-up show at the spot in Los Angeles in 2006.
It led to the actor being barred from the club for life, but owner Jamie Masada has now said he might allow him back – if he has learned “the error of his ways”.
Jamie told TMZ he “believes in second chances and doesn’t want to hold a grudge”.
But the outlet reported Michael – who has just published his memoir ‘Entrances and Exits’ – is not looking to use the book to make a return to the limelight in stand-up shows, TV or with promotional appearances to promote the memoir.
TMZ said Jamie says he was at the club the night Michael let rip with his racial slurs, and questioned Michael’s take on what happened.
The actor says in his book he over-reacted when a heckler told him he “wasn’t funny”.
But according to TMZ, Jamie says there were no proactive heckles.
He says a group of guests were talking during Michael’s set and only when he demanded to know what they were talking about did one reply with the put-down he wasn’t funny.
Michael says in his book at the time of the incident he was still hurting from the failure of his post-‘Seinfeld’ sitcom ‘The Michael Richards Show’ – which lasted only eight episodes in 2000.
He adds in the autobiography he heard talking coming from the balcony before he exploded in rage, and yelled: “Shut the f*** up!” – to the delight of the audience.
Michael says he then heard someone from the balcony call out: “You’re not funny. We don’t think you’re very funny!”
Michael admitted he took the insult “pretty hard” and called it a “solid punch below the belt”.
He swerves detailing exactly what he said during his tirade – which featured him shouting into the audience: “Fifty years ago we’d have you upside down with a f****** fork up your ass” before calling one of his hecklers the n- word.
Michael says in his book: “Of course, looking back at all, I wish I had just agreed with (my heckler.)
“He went low and I went even lower. We both ended up at the bottom of the barrel.”
Michael added the words “You’re not funny” kept running through his mind at the time of the incident, saying: “He laid it out so clearly, so simply, my biggest fear – not being funny.
“Later, I’ll come to realise that all of this, everything he said, is me. His voice is my voice. This is all ME going on. My inferiority sets in. My anger erupts.”
