Seinfeld star Michael Richards drew a lot of controversy after going on a racist rant at the Laugh Factory. But what has he been up to in the years since? Well, Richards effectively stepped out of the spotlight after hurdling racial slurs at hecklers during the set.
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Ultimately, he said that he chose to "cancel himself" following the rant. "I took myself out," he wrote in his new memoir Entrances and Exits (via Fox News).
"I found faith along the way," Richards told the outlet. "Faith in creation and how marvelous this system is set up to — well, it's rather merciful in that it allows us to reflect upon our wrongs and move on to get to a better place in oneself, to improve. The state of improvement. I'm fascinated by that. We as human beings can learn from our mistakes."
Richards has effectively retired himself from acting and doing stand-up. He explained that he's hesitant to step back into the game.
"I don't have an agent. I don't have reps. You got to be set up for all this," Richards explained. "That's just part of the business of having an acting career. I didn't write this book as, 'Oh I got a comeback, and I'm going to get on another TV show, or I'm going to do some costarring work in films, or I'm going to be on the stage.'"
Michael Richards left Hollywood
"None of that was on my mind," he said. "I just simply wanted to get to my stories and the life I've lived."
However, the actor does say that he has regrets. He wished that he could go back in time and handle things a different way. "I would have probably tried to say something like, 'I'm so sorry you don't find me funny. Is there anything I can do? Do you need a back rub? Can I buy you some chips and more liquor?'" Richards said. He also wished that he would have just left and went home.
"I was missing myself all along," he explained. "I don't think I was paying enough attention to myself, this person behind Hollywood and the part you play, the quest to entertain a public."
He continued, "There's something bigger than that, this great person. Who is it? And I say great because it's so enormous in this, in the size of becoming aware of who I am. That became a quest. What am I on this planet? Big huge questions that took me into philosophy and religion and psychology."
