Black hecklers racially abused by 'Seinfeld' actor

Michael Richards, who played the eccentric neighbour Kramer on Seinfeld, risks losing a big chunk of his fan base after a video surfaced of him hurling racial slurs at two black hecklers at a Hollywood comedy club.

The hecklers started telling the 57-year-old actor he was not funny and Richards shouted back: "That's what you get when you interrupt a white man."

In a 150-second video on the TMZ.com website, Richards shouts: "Fifty years ago we'd have had you upside down with a fucking fork up your ass." He goes on: "Throw his ass out. He's a nigger. He's a nigger. He's a nigger. A nigger, look, there's a nigger. They're going to arrest me for calling a black man a nigger."

The evening after the outburst at the Laugh Factory in Hollywood, Richards was back on the Factory stage, apparently without incident. Since the video came to light, he and his representatives have refused to comment.