Richards loses his cool,then offers apology

Michael Richards said yesterday he spewed racial epithets during a stand-up comedy routine because he lost his cool while being heckled and not because he's a bigot.

"For me to be at a comedy club and flip out and say this [stuff], I'm deeply, deeply sorry," the former "Seinfeld" co star said during a satellite appearance for David Letterman's "Late Show."

"I'm not a racist. That's what's so insane about this," Richards said, his tone becoming angry and frustrated as he defended himself. A clip from the show played on CBS before "Late Show" aired last night.

Richards described himself as going into "a rage" over the two audience members who interrupted his act Friday at the Laugh Factory in West Hollywood. Richards responded to the black hecklers with repeated use of a racial slur and profanities.

Jerry Seinfeld, who had issued a statement saying he was "sick over this horrible, horrible mistake" and calling it offensive, was scheduled as a Letterman guest yesterday.

Richards, 57, who played Seinfeld's eccentric neighbor Kramer on the hit 1989-98 sitcom and whose major credit since was a failed 2000 comedy, hadn't spoken publicly about his remarks before his "Late Show " appearance.

His onstage remarks were condemned by industry colleagues.

Richards's Laugh Factory tirade began after the two clubgoers shouted at him that he wasn't funny. A videotape of the incident was posted on TMZ.com. Richards retorted: "Shut up! Fifty years ago we'd have you upside down with a [expletive] fork up your [expletive]." He then paced across the stage taunting the men for interrupting his show, peppering his speech with racial slurs and profanities.

Yesterday about a half-dozen community activists gathered at the club to denounce Richards's remarks and demand an apology.

At a news conference , club owner Jamie Masada expressed remorse and said Richards would not be back at the club until he says he's sorry.

Richards did appear at the club Saturday, without incident, but that was because he had told the club he intended to apologize, according to a Laugh Factory statement.

Veteran publicist Michael Levine, whose clients have included comedians George Carlin, Sam Kinison, and Rodney Dangerfield, called Richards's remarks inexcusable.

Levine said, "I think it's a career ruiner for him. . . . It's going to be a long road back for him, if at all."

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The long-running legal battle over photos from the 2000 wedding of Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones went to Britain's highest court yesterday. A panel of five judges in the House of Lords began a hearing to decide whether celebrity magazine OK! is entitled to compensation from rival Hello!, which published secretly snapped pictures of the couple's lavish wedding at New York's Plaza Hotel. OK!, which had an exclusive contract with the Hollywood couple, sued Hello! after the rival publication ran its own pictures. A High Court judge ruled in favor of OK! in November 2003, ordering Hello! to pay costs and damages of more than $3.8 million. Hello! appealed, arguing that it had run its own wedding pictures as a "spoiler" to its rival's coverage -- a common practice in journalism. Last year, the Court of Appeal agreed, dismissing a claim by OK! that its rival's spoiler had unlawfully interfered with its business. The judges overturned the costs and damages ruling and ordered OK! to pay back the money it had received. OK! is appealing that ruling to the Law Lords, judges who sit in the House of Lords and make up the country's highest court. Douglas, 62, and Zeta-Jones, 37, who received $28,000 in damages from Hello! after the original trial, weren't expected to be in court for the weeklong hearing.

A $30 million lawsuit filed yesterday accused the makers of the hit movie "Borat" of misleading residents of a remote Romanian village to think they were participating in a documentary that would benefit them. The lawsuit in U S District Court in Manhattan was filed on behalf of Nicolae Todorache and Spiridom Ciorebea, two residents of Glod, Romania, whose Gypsi es were used as stand-ins for Kazakhs in "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan." The lawsuit alleged that 20th Century Fox Film Corp. and others involved in the film knew that the residents of Glod live in difficult circumstances and have historically been the targets of discrimination. Gregg Brilliant, a spokesman for 20th Century Fox, said the lawsuit got the facts wrong, and " the movie was never presented to anyone in Romania as a documentary. " He said villagers were paid above the usual rate and mixed with professional actors and others to portray a fictional village. He also called the suit's allegations ironic . "It's a film that uses satire to expose racism and bigotry," he said.

Eddie Murphy says a difficult divorce helped his performance in the movie "Dreamgirls." "It was real emotional," Murphy said yesterday on "The Oprah Winfrey Show. " "So it was really good because I had all that going on and that's going on under your skin; you get on the set and when you're acting . . . [it took] me to a different place ." Murphy's divorce from his wife, Nicole (inset, together in 2004), came up as costar Jamie Foxx commented on how Murphy could transform himself into the character James "Thunder" Early, then revert to "this quiet, docile thing."

Lawyers for CBS Corp. argued yesterday that singer Janet Jackson's breast-baring at the Super Bowl halftime show in 2004 took place without the network's knowledge and should not be considered indecent. CBS is suing the Federal Communications Commission in the 3rd U S Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia, challenging a $550,000 fine over the stunt. CBS claims that Jackson and Justin Timberlake "independently and clandestinely devised the finale" without informing the network, and said the fine should be dismissed because the broadcast itself was "neither explicit nor graphic."

A Malawian High Court judge has postponed his ruling on a challenge to Madonna's plans to adopt 13-month old David Banda . Judge Andrew Nyirenda was at a conference and unavailable to give his ruling yesterday, said Lilongwe High Court registrar Ken Manda. Nyirenda is expected to rule next week on a challenge to the adoption proceedings by a coalition of human rights and child advocacy groups, which argue the government cut legal corners to "fast track" the adoption . . . . Former "X-Files" star Gillian Anderson gave birth to a baby boy named Oscar on Nov. 1 in London, reports People. The boy, who weighed 6 pounds 8 ounces, was born three weeks early. His father is businessman Mark Griffiths.
FROM WIRE REPORTS

Uh, we're asking the questions here, Emilio

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