Jerry Seinfeld says 'extreme left' politically correct mob has killed comedy
Jerry Seinfeld has once again aimed his ire at the politically correct 'extreme left', telling the New Yorker's David Remnick that oversensitivity has ruined comedy.
The 'Seinfeld' star said that even though people crave comedic relief, they can't find it on TV.
'Nothing really affects comedy. People always need it. They need it so badly and they don't get it, he said on a recent episode of the New Yorker's Radio Hour.
He fondly remembered the days when people would get home and turn on the TV to watch comedies such as 'Cheers,' 'M.A.S.H.,' or 'All in the Family.'
Seinfeld apparently doesn't think any modern-day TV comedies compare to those 1970s to 1980s classics.
Pictured: Jerry Seinfeld appearing on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Wednesday, March 27, 2024
'Well, guess what? Where is it? Where is it? This is the result of the extreme left and P.C. c**p and people worrying so much about offending other people,' he said.
Seinfeld is no stranger to criticizing those he sees as PC - 'politically correct' - mobs.
Back in 2015, he warned other comics not to perform at college campuses because they were too politically correct.
Roughly nine years later, Seinfeld says political correctness is alive and well on network television, and comedy fans are circumventing that by going to see live comedy shows instead.
'Now they're going to see stand-up comics because they are not policed by anyone. The audience polices us. We know when we're off track. We know instantly. And we adjust to it instantly,' Seinfeld said.
Seinfeld said that people who want to be successful comedians need to be able to work within the parameters of what society deems acceptable, using the metaphor of gates in skiing.
Seinfeld performs during Philly Fights Cancer: Round 4 at The Philadelphia Navy Yard on November 10, 2018 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Jerry Seinfeld on the set of 'Seinfeld' in 1989
Jerry Seinfeld blames the 'extreme' left wing for the decline in comedy shows on TV
Seinfeld added that organic process of trial and error doesn't happen in TV boardrooms and jokes are nitpicked.
'But 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,' he said.
'With certain comedians now, people are having fun with them stepping over the line, and us all laughing about it.
'But again, it's the stand-ups that really have the freedom to do it because no one else gets the blame if it doesn't go down well. He or she can take all the blame [themselves.]'
At a time when pro-Palestine protests rage on at college campuses across the nation, Seinfeld, who is of Jewish descent, was confronted by angry agitators outside the State of the World Jewry Address in New York City back in February.
Journalist Bari Weiss gave the address, and as Seinfeld left the event, protestors repeatedly screamed at him 'free Palestine' and 'you support genocide.'
Seinfeld is seen waving at the hostile crowd as he gets into his car to drive off.
Seinfeld revealed to the Times of Israel in December 2023, a little over two months after the war in Gaza began, that he 'lived and worked on a kibbutz in Israel when I was 16 and I have loved our Jewish homeland ever since.'
He concluded by saying he would 'always stand with Israel and the Jewish people.'