At a perfomance at West Hollywood’s Laugh Factory on Friday, November 17, Michael Richards (Kramer of Seinfeld fame) was the recipient of some heckling. Rather than taking the heckling in stride or returning a zinger to quiet said hecklers, he instead went into a tirade of racist remarks. The outburst resulted from what an audience member called “playful heckling”—he completely lost his temper and made some pretty shocking remarks. TMZ.com has a video of the event, where the N-word as well as other comments were made several times. I’d rather not repeat what was said, as you can find more details about the meltdown all over the Internet. The audience appeared somewhat stunned, not sure whether it was part of the act or not. Several audience members got up to leave. Jerry Seinfeld made a statement about the incident, saying, “I am sick over this. I’m sure Michael is also sick over this horrible, horrible mistake. It is so extremely offensive. I feel terrible for all the people who have been hurt.”

Here’s the thing, folks. When you’re a celebrity, you’re under a microscope and anything that you say or do is subject to so much public scrutiny. This kind of behavior can be a total career-killer, so why not pull in the reigns and control yourself? I’m looking at you too, Mel Gibson.