He unleashed a barrage of racial epithets when two black hecklers interrupted his standup routine, calling them the n-word and making jokes about a time when blacks were lynched.

And when Michael Richards, better known as Kramer from "Seinfeld," decided to offer a public apology, he went on "The David Letterman" show.

"I lost my temper onstage," he said, "I said some pretty nasty things to some Afro-Americans. ... You know, I'm really busted up over this and I'm very, very sorry."

So far, his apology, which was arranged by Jerry Seinfeld -- who also appeared on the show -- hasn't gone over well with some members of the black community. They say his choice of venue -- a show with a mostly white audience -- shows that he is insincere.

"There are bigger venues he could have had access to where the message would have reached the general public before 11 p.m. where the audience would have been more comprised of the audience he insulted," says Eric Deggans, TV/media critic for the St. Petersburg Times. "He chose to apologize in a venue that would benefit his friends.

"David Letterman gets ratings. Jerry Seinfeld gets an apology the day before the season 7 DVD goes on sale and four days before the start of the biggest shopping season of the year."

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KNOW YOUR VENUE

The venue for where someone issues a public apology speaks volumes, says Morris Reid, a brand strategist for Westin Rinehart.

"Richards could have gone on the 'Today' show, said, 'Listen, I made a mistake and I am going to handle this in a very serious manner,'" he says. "Going on a show whose nature is to be funny shows that he's insensitive and not quite ready to own up that he made a mistake."

He chose a safe comfort zone, says Roland Martin, a syndicated columnist and executive editor of the Chicago Defender. Even Richards admitted on the show that it was probably not the best venue. Several audience members laughed, thinking the apology was part of his standup routine.

"He knew full well that he was sitting in a place with his friend Jerry Seinfeld and at the same time fellow comedian David Letterman, that he was not going to get the kind of questioning if he was speaking to BET, or even talking to journalists like the 'Today' show or 'CBS Evening News,'" says Martin. "It was an opportunity to be able to go to a place where you know you are not going to be questioned as vigorously as you would at a press conference."

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WHERE TO GO

So what's the right venue for a public apology?

"You need to either go to the community in which you have inflicted the pain or go and get the largest possible venue that you can," Reid says.

Hugh Grant apologized on "Live with Regis and Kathie Lee," "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" and CNN's "Larry King Live" after his encounter with a Hollywood prostitute. Sen. Trent Lott did an interview with Ed Gordon from BET after his comment that the United States would have avoided "all these problems" if then-segregationist Strom Thurmond had been elected president in 1948. (Lott was apologizing everywhere. Reid says he went overboard).

Even Mel Gibson chose a wide venue when he did a two-part interview with "Good Morning America" after his drunken rant against Jews.

There was a shadow over that decision, though, since the Walt Disney Company owns ABC, and Disney is distributing Gibson's movie "Apocalypto."

"Whenever an apology has a fiscal imperative attached to it, you have to wonder how sincere it is," said Deggans, who is black. "If someone apologizes to you because they know they are going to get a check for 10 grand for talking, how seriously do you take that apology?"

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THE BEST STRATEGY

One good approach: Call a press conference in front of your house or where the comments were made and apologize. And do it immediately.

"Richards let the time lag and then it looked like he was forced to deal with it," Reid said. "He's probably a little too late. People have made up their mind."

"A sincere person might have gotten his friends of color to stand with him to issue an apology, or a pastor or clergy member," said the Rev. Jacques DeGraff, a political strategist. "To go in the dark of night on a late-night laugh show says to me that he has no idea what he did."

And once you apologize, don't stop there, Deggans said.

For example, if Richards wants to show he is not a racist, he can get involved with groups that benefit people of color. He can join the NAACP, or get involved with the United Negro College Fund or a black college in the area.

"Meet some black people," he says. "Talk to them face to face. In the process he might learn something. He might learn that black people haven't been called Afro-Americans since the 1970s."

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Megan Scott is an asap reporter based in New York.

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