Jerry Seinfeld
HipHopWired Featured Video
Source: Noam Galai / Getty
Students at Duke University walked out on the commencement speech by Jerry Seinfeld over his pro-Israel stance on the war in Gaza.
On Sunday (May 12), comedian Jerry Seinfeld was introduced at the commencement at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. Before rising to speak, about 30 graduates got up and walked out during the introductory remarks by Duke University President Vincent Price, with chants of “Free, Free Palestine” being heard as they left the stadium mixed in with booing from some of the 7,000 in attendance. They were protesting Seinfeld’s presence as well as the school’s investment in Israel, calling for Duke to divest.
Seinfeld has been more vocal about his support of Israel and their military’s response to the attacks by the Hamas militant group on Oct. 7, 2023, which resulted in hundreds of Israeli people killed with over 300 hostages taken. The Israeli Defense Forces’ attacks have been blamed for the reported deaths of almost 35,000 Palestinians and other civilians including aid workers. The comedian’s stance (including social media posts and a trip to Tel Aviv last December) has brought him heavy backlash as he was on campus to receive an honorary doctorate. “I don’t preach about it,” he said in an interview with GQ. “I have my personal feelings about it that I discuss privately. It’s not part of what I can do comedically, but my feelings are very strong.”
The students who walked out, with some carrying the Palestinian flag, made their way to a green space on campus where they were greeted by parents and faculty members who gave them a makeshift ceremony. Back at Wallace Wade Stadium, Seinfeld regaled the crowd while only hinting at the protesters by saying he admired their commitment to inclusivity but felt “it is worth the sacrifice of occasional discomfort to have some laughs.”
The protests by college students over the war in Gaza have led to increased tensions with over 2,900 arrested at 57 collegiate institutions nationwide. Some of the incidents were sparked by agitators involved in pro-Israel counterprotests such as one that took place at UCLA last month – that one was promoted by Seinfeld’s wife, Jessica, who publicized her donations to the organizing group. She would go on to denounce the violence that took place afterward.
HipHopWired Featured Video
CLOSE
Source: Dave Kotinsky / Getty
Jerry Seinfeld claimed that comedy today is ruined in part by “extreme left & P.C. crap” in an interview, which has earned him serious backlash from those online.Veteran comedian Jerry Seinfeld shared some thoughts about the state of comedy on television today that has sparked a hefty debate. Seinfeld sat down with journalist David Remnick for the New Yorker Radio Hour podcast to promote a Netflix movie about the origin of Pop-Tarts and was asked by Remnick about how he handles dealing with serious issues going on in the world. “Nothing really affects comedy. People always need it. They need it so badly and they don’t get it,” Seinfeld began.
“It used to be you would go home at the end of the day, most people would go, ‘Oh, Cheers is on,” he continued. “‘Oh, M.A.S.H. is on, oh, Mary Tyler Moore is on. All in the Family is on.’ You just expected, there’ll be some funny stuff we can watch on TV tonight. Well, guess what? Where is it? This is the result of the extreme left and P.C. crap and people worrying so much about offending other people. When you write a script and it goes into four or five different hands, committees, groups — ‘Here’s our thought about this joke’ — well, that’s the end of your comedy.”
Remnick asked the 70-year-old if he ever “had that experience”. Seinfeld simply replied, “Um, no.” When Remnick asked him about Seinfeld co-creator Larry David and the conclusion of his acclaimed HBO comedy series Curb Your Enthusiasm,the comic replied: “Larry was grandfathered in. He’s old enough so that — ‘I don’t have to observe those rules, because I started before you made those rules.’”
Seinfeld received some support from far-right figures such as Turning Point USA leader Benny Johnson and Dinesh D’Souza after the interview, The comments also earned Seinfeld a heavy amount of backlash online. “Jerry Seinfeld whining that there are no good sitcoms because of wokeness when his writing partner just ended one of the funniest sitcoms of all time which is loved by leftists,” wrote one user in a post on X, formerly Twitter who quoted platform owner Elon Musk’s post of a Seinfeld routine with the caption, “Make comedy great again!”
Check out the responses to Seinfeld’s comments below.
1. Ashley Lynch
2. Ask Aubry
3. TheIainDuncanSmiths
4. Jen The Geek
6. Bryce Lacy
7. The Public Archive
8. Lily O’ Farrell
9. Br33zyBLVCK
-
Pages