Three days after the incident, Richards made a public apology via satellite on the "Late Show with David Letterman", saying: "For me to be at a comedy club and to flip out and say this crap, I'm deeply, deeply sorry. I'm not a racist, that's what's so insane about this." Many studio audience members laughed as Richards began his unscripted explanation and apology, leading show guest Jerry Seinfeld to reprimand them, saying, "Stop laughing. It's not funny." Richards said he had been trying to defuse the heckling by being even more outrageous, but it had backfired. He later called civil rights leaders Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson to apologize. He also appeared as a guest on Jackson's syndicated radio show. Doss stated that he did not accept Richards' apology, saying, "If he wanted to apologize, he could have contacted... one of us out of the group. But, he didn't. He apologized on camera just because the tape got out."