Michael Richards' Acting Career is O-V-E-R

Michael Richards recently was all over television, newspapers and the media for his racist comments against African Americans. Richards was in the middle of his comedy routine at a comedy club and felt that two African American men were talking throughout his routine and disturbing him. He stopped in the middle of his routine and started cursing out the two men. The audience at first thought that this was part of his act and they were laughing but when the men angrily argued back with Michael Richards, the fight turned ugly and the audience soon realized that this was no part of his routine. Richards started yelling derogatory slurs at the two men and the audience began leaving the comedy club. Once Michael Richards was done arguing with the men on stage, he promptly left the stage and the comedy club after the audience began shouting that he shouldn't have yelled derogatory slurs at the two men. The manager of the club had to go onstage and apologize for what happened.

Michael Richards also went on the David Letterman and through a live satellite feed, apologized on his show to the American public for his behavior. Jerry Seinfeld was the scheduled guest of Letterman and Seinfeld had asked David Letterman if Michael Richards could apologize and Letterman had agreed.

So the question remains, is Michael Richards' career over? I'm pretty sure that the answer is yes. Michael Richards is a three-time Emmy Award winner and his rise to fame and fortune came from his acting on the Seinfeld show when he played the role of Cosmo Kramer and was a recognizable character on one of the most successful television sitcoms ever.

Michael Richards' acting career has included appearances on Billy Chrystal's TV show, ABC station's Fridays show, he guest starred on Miami Vice, he guest starred on the show Cheers, he was on the Jay Leno show several times as a fitness accident expert. In 1989, he starred in the show UHF which was about the life of Weird Al Yankovic. In 1989 he also got together with Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld and started producing the Seinfeld show which didn't really get popular until the low to mid 90s. Seinfeld ended in 2000.

When the show was over, Richards tried to do a pilot with NBA called the Michael Richards show, but that failed and never made past the test room audiences. Richards was also supposed to play a role in the show Monk but the directors thought that the audience wouldn't take him serious enough because of his comedy shows and routines he had been in. In 2004, he and the rest of the Seinfeld cast provided DVD commentary for all of the Seinfeld DVDs.

The incident at the Laugh Comedy club involved two men named Kyle Doss and Frank McBride who were the targets of Richards' comments. Richards told the men who had been ordering drinks and causing a disturbance that "Fifty years ago we'd have you upside-down with a fucking fork up your ass!" in reference to lynching of black people in the United States. The men reported by yelling white racial slurs at Michael Richards and the incident got uglier. The two men have been reported as saying that they will be suing Michael Richards.

I do believe that Michael Richards' career is over. He tried apologizing on the Letterman show but it looked fake and as if he was trying to save whatever is left of his career. I did like Richards as an actor playing Kramer on the Seinfeld show but I think what he did was inexcusable and he will be hard pressed to find a studio that is willing to hire him.