Jerry Seinfeld responded to pro-Palestine demonstrators who in recent weeks have confronted him at shows and during a commencement speech, claiming they need to “correct their aim” because comedians “don’t control anything.”
In an interview with firebrand former New York Times writer Bari Weiss on her Honestly podcast Tuesday, Seinfeld opened up on a number of topics including the Israel-Hamas war, modern masculinity (“I miss a dominant masculinity—yeah I get the toxic thing, I get it—but still, I like a real man”) and why he choose to film a movie “about breakfast”—Unfrosted—in a time of uncertainty.
“Because I want to,” he said, adding he started the movie during COVID-19 because he “couldn’t stand sad faces” and hoped he could “make a face happy, even if just for a few minutes.” Of the prospect of Trump regaining the presidency in November, Seinfeld added, “I don’t like that kind of talk.”
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But it’s the Jewish comedian’s public comments about the “extreme left” and his support of Israel and its war on Hamas that have prompted headlines in recent weeks. Seinfeld posted days after the Oct. 7 attack expressing his support for Israel, and again later that month. He traveled to a kibbutz in December to meet with hostages’ families, describing the trip to Weiss, while nearly breaking down in tears, as “the most powerful experience of my life.”
His wife, Jessica, has also confirmed that she funded pro-Israel counterprotests on college campuses.
On May 19, his comedy show was interrupted by a member in the audience who yelled “Free Gaza,” and jeered with other audience members, TMZ reported. His commencement speech at Duke University earlier this month was also the subject of chants and student walkouts. In February, a group of anti-Israel protesters hurled insults at the comedian, including “Nazi scum” and “genocide supporter.” And last December, hundreds protested outside his show in Syracuse in support of Palestine.
Seinfeld said he feels “a little bit” politicized by the current state of affairs, describing it as “so dumb” and that while he supports younger generations diving into politics, “we have to just correct their aim.”
“When we get protesters occasionally, I love to say to the audience, ‘You know I love that these young people, they’re trying to get engaged with politics, we have to just correct their aim a little bit, they don’t seem to understand that as comedians we really don’t control anything,’” Seinfeld said.
Of being described Nazi scum, he said it was “so silly, they want to express this sincere intense rage, but again, a little off-target. That’s to me, comedic,” he explained of the smile that was attached to his face during the confrontation.
