Michael Richards appears to be digging himself in deeper...

After what he recently went thru with his outburst directed at two black hecklers, now he's catching flack for his claim that he is Jewish:

Last week, crisis-management expert Howard Rubenstein acknowledged that Richards had shouted anti-Semitic remarks in an April standup comedy routine - well before his appearance earlier this month in which he harangued hecklers with the n-word. But he defended Richards' language about Jews, saying that the comic "is Jewish. He's not anti-Semitic at all. He was role-playing."

As Rubenstein's assertion circulated, Jewish organizations and commentators pointed out that the man who played Cosmo Kramer on "Seinfeld" has not converted to Judaism and neither of his parents are Jewish.

While Richards may be telling people he's Jewish, in reality it takes more from a technical standpoint to actually be Jewish, especially if your parents are not Jewish. Perhaps the best thing for Michael Richards to do at this point is to not make the headlines for a few weeks...Jewish or not Jewish...