Seinfeld has publicly supported Israel following the 7 October Hamas attack, and traveled to a kibbutz in December to meet with hostages’ families
In case you're wondering what the argument is. You should still read the story though.
That's the biggest part of the reason, but there's also the fact that he's been complaining about how the 'woke left' has destroyed comedy. That's not exactly going to endear him to young adults either.
Also, the whole reason he's complaining about comedy being destroyed is that he hasn't been relevant in over 25 years. So even ignoring everything, he's some boring old dude that hasn't been that relevant the entire life of most of the graduates. They selected someone that the staff might be impressed by, but not someone that is vaguely interesting for the actual graduates.
Exactly. I enjoyed his stand-up comedy back in the 80s and 90s. I enjoyed his sitcom (although that was mostly down to Larry David), but the world has moved on. Comedy evolves. If you can't evolve with it, you end up being Don Rickles in the world of George Carlin.
As a 24 year old who spent way too much time watching 90s reruns, Seinfeld was just kinda meh. 3rd rock and married with children were better IMO, also the married with children lingerie scene was my sexual awakening.
Funny, at the time, I thought Seinfeld was better (and more innovative) than either of those. Married With Children was mostly just about being as crass as possible, which has been topped significantly since by shows like South Park and Always Sunny, which broadened their shows to not make it just about "how trashy can we get" and Third Rock... eh. Mostly just weird for weirdness' sake.
Seinfeld had some pretty decent ideas for a sitcom like the episode taking place entirely while waiting in the restaurant entrance for Chinese take-out or the episode which is entirely set in a parking garage. There just wasn't TV like that back then.
And the point of a lot of old comedy was based on shitting on other people. The "woke left" is the kids calling us out on being assholes for no reason.
Seinfeld has publicly supported Israel following the 7 October Hamas attack, and traveled to a kibbutz in December to meet with hostages’ families. He has been “uncharacteristically vocal” about his support during press calls for his new film, Unfrosted, *The New York Times *reported.
The comedian, who was receiving an honorary degree from Duke, largely stayed away from the issue at the centre of the protests during his speech. At one point, he mentioned his Jewish heritage which was met with applause from the crowd.
“I grew up a Jewish boy from New York,” he said. “That is a privilege if you want to be a comedian.”
Outside Duke’s stadium on the Durham campus, Gaza-supporting students chanted: “Disclose, divest, we will not stop, we will not rest.”
A bit more context
Seinfelds wife also donated to the riot mob throwing fireworks into the UCLA pro palestine camp
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/jessica-seinfeld-bill-ackman-fund-200308497.html
Jessica Seinfeld, cookbook author and wife to comedian Jerry Seinfeld, is funding a pro-Israel counterprotest at UCLA—where violence broke out Tuesday night after a mob attacked demonstrators inside a pro-Palestine encampment.
A GoFundMe for the effort, which Seinfeld promoted in an Instagram story this week after contributing at least $5,000, has since made the majority of its donations anonymous. The fundraising page has raised more than $93,000 as of Wednesday and also changed its organizer name and description since launching over the weekend.
“I just gave to this GoFundMe to support more allies like yesterday’s at UCLA,” Seinfeld wrote this week. “More cities are being planned so please give what you can. Donations are annonymous [sic]. We will continue to share our light and love, as proud American Jews.”
His wife also donated to and promoted a GoFundMe to fund the violent counterprotestors at UCLA
I find it funny that everyone assumed they walked out over Gaza, while I assumed it was because Jerry Seinfeld isn't funny.
I just figured it was cause he's an egotistical asshole.
Which coincidentally is the primary reason I've never found him funny. All egotistical assholes I've ever met thought they are hilarious. They are mostly just incredibly cruel and bigoted.
I thought he was funny playing a petty, egotistical asshole as a character. It became a lot less funny after realizing he's just like that.
The guy who said woke (aka not self centered sociopaths) have ruined comedy even though his partner on Seinfeld has had a wildly successful hit comedy series burning everyone for like eight years?
8 years? Try 24 years of Curb your Enthusiasm and it was glorious.
Also Always Sunny in Philadelphia exists and proves Seinfeld wrong as well.
I forget where I heard it but I've never forgotten it: Comedy punches up, bullying punches down. The only people who are afraid of getting canceled are the ones who do the latter.
Wow. Those protestors are so violent. Call the riot squad!
Anti-semites!¡
Tomorrow he's going to complain about being "cancelled" and how he "can't say things anymore" while talking about the event where he was invited to speak in front of a college full of students.
You can say whatever you want, people don't have to listen.
Love his TV show but unfortunately he's a dick IRL.
https://consequence.net/2024/05/jerry-seinfeld-pro-palestine-students-duke/
I can't help but notice all the comedians who complain about society being took woke for comedy are has-beens. John Stewart's back to crushing it at the Daily Show, is he complaining? No, it's only the guys who've run out of material and have nothing left to do but shake their canes at gen Z kids.
I challenge anyone to go to the "good old days" and find me a comedian who was actually funny and not just being an edgelord. You know who the most popular comedian was in the 80s? Andrew Dice Clay. That's right. That's was peak comedy, dirty nursery rhymes. Sure, I get that some people are nostalgic. But let's be serious for a minute - do we really wanna go back to that kind of comedic void?
Society hasn't gotten too woke, rather comedic standards have evolved to the point where merely being offensive in itself no longer counts as comedy.
I challenge anyone to go to the "good old days" and find me a comedian who was actually funny and not just being an edgelord.
The master himself. George Carlin. We could debate whether he was an edge lord or not. But his comedy was timeless and remains hysterical to this day. And his funniest bits were based on observation of the human condition.
Robin Williams, Eddie Murphy, and Jim Carrey all seemed like they had really good specials. I haven't watched them in a long time, but I don't recall them being edge lords. I'm sure there have to be others.
I honestly never understood the attraction to Seinfeld.
There were a few good jokes in there but the whole show was about them being assholes and proud of it.
They're selfish, judgemental and entitled. They're constantly mocking and bullying other people and each other. The final episode even lays it out explicitly.
Shows like "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia", "Married... With Children" or "Breaking Bad" have various unsavory characters but we're invited to reject these flaws or at least identify with them as flaws.
Seinfeld is shameless about being an asshole and pretends the rest of us are just too dumb to understand his genius.
I think you're missing the point of these shows and that's okay.
The characters aren't role models, they are your intrusive thoughts manifest. If you didn't hear someone's name when they told you, any rational person would just say it was loud and they didn't hear you. They wouldnt go through lengths of introducing friends, finding out childhood taunts and rifling through your belongings in an attempt to save face.
The joke is in the breaking of social norms. A show about people being polite to each other doesn't make for very good comedy.
Weird choice of quotes and headlines:
From the OP article:
"He has been “uncharacteristically vocal” about his support during press calls for his new film, Unfrosted, The New York Times reported."
From the NYT link in the quote:
"As Mr. Seinfeld, who has recently been vocal about his support for Israel, received an honorary degree, dozens of students walked out and chanted, “Free, free Palestine,” while the comedian looked on and smiled tensely"
But when you go to the link to the NY Times article that references Mr. Seinfeld as being recently vocal about his support of Israel, one of the concluding comments in the article is:
Surely, Mr. Seinfeld sees it differently. His public comments have largely avoided geopolitical specifics, dwelling little on the choices of the Netanyahu government or prospective conditions for a cease-fire.
And he can still sound hesitant even in recent discussions about the Jewishness of “Seinfeld” — which an NBC executive once described as “too New York, too Jewish.”
Nothing about this makes me think Seinfield is a a strong supported of the war. Support for Israel after the attack can be a lot of things and does not mean pro Netanyahu war machine.
Confusiong riches and fame for brains. Classic mistake
CoMeDy Is DeAd.
No. We’re just through with your bigotry disguised as humor.
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