What he said was pretty disastrous, but having forced myself to sit through youtube video, I couldn't help but wonder why the heckling that preceeded the rant was somehow lost. Two sides to this story, both ugly.
If you are a comedian, you are going to get heckled. If you can't handle heckling, you are in the wrong business. If you are funny AND intelligent you would think of a snap that causes the hecklers to shut the hell up. But Richards went to the lowest common denominator. If the hecklers had been white, what would he have thought up to respond to them? He deserves all the mess he is in. BUT, he is probably not a racist, more like a bigot I would guess.