Nowadays, if you're a celebrity and you say something bad about others, disrespect their religious beliefs or insult them for their color and you're 'lucky' enough to be caught on tape, there's only one thing you can do to save face: go on national TV and try to explain yourself.

The same goes for Michael Richards, the guy who played the loony but lovable Kramer in 'Seinfeld'. A couple of nights ago, as he was doing a number of stand up comedy at the Laugh Factory in Los Angeles, he was repeatedly interrupted by two African-American members of the audience.

Instead of addressing the problem in a way that would have befitted an adult, Richards became aggressive and started to hurl racial slurs towards the hecklers. Nothing can justify his use of profanity and especially not that of the 'nigger' term, not even an interruption in the middle of his show.

Anyway, Richards is really 'busted up' over this (the footage already made all the rounds on the Internet) and - thanks to his good pal Jerry Seinfeld - he went on Letterman's 'The Late Show' to explain his actions. According to the washed up comedian, the tirade was a consequence of repressed anger that, for some reason or another, got vented on the audience.

The worst part of the show was, however, when an almost weeping Richards could not make his message clear enough to Letterman's guests, who still thought it was all a joke and couldn't stop laughing. Seinfeld also got a little upset and told them a couple of times to 'Stop laughing. This isn't funny. It's not funny'.

And the laughter didn't stop until Richards said that maybe Letterman's show was not the place he should have gone to: 'I'm hearing your audience laugh and I'm not even sure that this is where I should be addressing the situation...'. When the giggling finally ceased, the comedian finally got to make his point and explain his behavior.

He is not a racist and that only makes the entire thing crazier, he said, as if the scandal were not his own doing. How many people believed him? It is not known. CLICK HERE to see if you're one of them.