Jerry Seinfeld has some very robust emotions in regards to the “Free Palestine” motion, and isn’t afraid to voice them publicly.
On Tuesday, the comic spoke at a Duke College occasion, the place he in contrast “Free Palestine” to the notoriously racist Ku Klux Klan group, occurring to say that the KKK was much less offensive.
“Free Palestine is, to me, simply — you’re free to say you don’t like Jews. Simply say you don’t like Jews,” Seinfeld stated, in line with The Duke Chronicle. Seinfeld was there to introduce Omer Shem Tov, a former Israeli hostage who was kidnapped by Hamas on the October seventh, 2023, Nova music pageant and held captive for 505 days.
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“By saying Free Palestine, you’re not admitting what you actually assume,” Seinfeld added. “So it’s truly — in comparison with the Ku Klux Klan, I’m truly considering the Klan is definitely a bit of higher right here as a result of they’ll come proper out and say, ‘We don’t like Blacks, we don’t like Jews.’ Okay that’s trustworthy.”
The occasion was organized by Duke scholar teams together with the College, however college directors denied any accountability for Seinfeld’s inflammatory remarks.
“Jerry Seinfeld launched the speaker and requested his look not be introduced beforehand, given Omer Shem Tov’s experiences have been the main target of the occasion,” an unnamed College spokesperson instructed The Duke Chronicle. “Duke doesn’t preview the remarks of audio system who’re invited to campus, and the invitation of audio system to campus doesn’t suggest any endorsement of their remarks.”
Seinfeld’s staunch help of Israel is well-documented, leading to a mass scholar walk-out throughout his graduation speech at Duke College final spring. It was additionally final 12 months when he was heckled by a pro-Palestinian protester throughout a comedy present in Sydney, Australia. “We’ve got a genius, girls and gents. He’s solved the Center East,” Seinfeld stated in response to the heckler. “He’s solved it! It’s the Jewish comedians, that’s who now we have to get.”
Simply final month, a sold-out Seinfeld present in Eugene, Oregon, was protested over the comic’s feedback on Gaza and Palestine.