Michael Richards will appear on the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s nationally syndicated radio program to discuss his racist rant at a Los Angeles comedy club, the civil rights leader said Saturday.

Richards’ participation in the “Keep Hope Alive” program is a chance to reach out and apologize to the black community, Jackson said.

“He is embarrassed,” said Jackson, who spoke to Richards by telephone this week after being contacted by the actor’s publicist. “I think he wants to recover from the pain he now feels and the pain he’s caused others.”

While he called Richards’ words “hateful,” “sick,” and “deep-seated,” Jackson said his inclusion in the radio show airing Sunday would be a chance for a broader discussion about black actors, writers and directors’ “cultural isolation” in the entertainment industry.

“We might turn this minus into a plus,” Jackson said.

Richards, who played Jerry Seinfeld’s wacky neighbor Kramer on the TV sitcom “Seinfeld,” was performing at West Hollywood’s Laugh Factory last week when he lashed out at hecklers with a string of racial obscenities and profane language. A cell phone videocamera captured the outburst, and the incident later appeared on TMZ.com.

Richards appeared via satellite on the “Late Show with David Letterman” on Monday, where he said the tirade was fueled by anger at being heckled, not bigotry. He also apologized to the Rev. Al Sharpton.

Jackson said Richards apologized to him, but his “public meltdown” showed he needs psychiatric help.

“I asked him, ‘Why do you hate blacks? Have you been robbed or accosted or molested in some way?”‘ Jackson said. “He said, ‘No, I can’t quite explain it.’ I said, ‘That’s why you need to talk it out.”‘

Michael Richards, who played Kramer on the television show Seinfeld, will appear on the Rev. Jesse Jackson's nationally syndicated radio program to discuss his racist rant at a Los Angeles comedy club last week.

Richards’ publicist Howard Rubenstein said Saturday his client has begun psychiatric counseling in Los Angeles to learn how to manage his anger and why he made the racist remarks.

“He acknowledged that his statements were harmful and opened a terrible racial wound in our nation,” Rubenstein said. “He pledges never ever to say anything like that again. He’s quite remorseful.”

Richards has been trying to locate the two men he insulted so he can apologize, Rubenstein said.

The men are looking for Richards, as well. They want a personal apology and maybe some money, one of the men and their lawyer said Friday.

Frank McBride and Kyle Doss said they were part of a group of about 20 people who had gathered at West Hollywood’s Laugh Factory to celebrate a friend’s birthday. According to their attorney, Gloria Allred, they were ordering drinks when Richards berated them for interrupting his act.

When one of their group replied that he wasn’t funny, Richards launched into a string of obscenities and repeatedly used the n-word.

But Doss, 26, said Friday he wanted a “face-to-face apology.”

“To have him do what he did to me … I can’t even explain it,” Doss said. “I was humiliated, even scared at one point.”

Allred, speaking by phone from Colorado, said Richards should meet McBride and Doss in front of a retired judge to “acknowledge his behavior and to apologize to them” and allow the judge to decide on monetary compensation.

“It’s not enough to say ‘I’m sorry’ on ‘David Letterman,'” she said.

She did not mention a specific figure but pitched the idea as a way for the comic to avoid a lawsuit.

“Our clients were vulnerable,” Allred said. “He went after them. He singled them out and he taunted them, and he did it in a closed room where they were captive.”

The video of Richards’ outburst shows several people getting up and walking out as he shouts at the audience.

Richards’ publicist said the comic wasn’t considering any demand for payment. “He’s not dealing with that,” Rubenstein said. “He wants to apologize to them directly and then see what happens.”