Back in May of this year, comedy icon Jerry Seinfeld expressed dismay over how the “extreme left” have ruined comedy, explaining how wokeness has compromised the authenticity and vitality of the genre. In an interview on New Yorker’s Radio Hour, Seinfeld complained about the dwindling presence of genuine comedy, attributing it to the pervasive culture of political correctness.
“It used to be that you’d go home at the end of the day,” Seinfeld explained, and “most people would go, ‘Oh, Cheers is on. Oh, M.A.S.H. is on. Oh, Mary Tyler Moore is on, All in the Family is on.’ You just expected [there will] be some funny stuff we can watch on TV tonight. Well, guess what? Where is it? Where is it?” he said
Of course he was absolutely right in his assessment, but how, however, he is sadly walking back those comments:
“I did an interview with The New Yorker, and I said that the extreme left has suppressed the art of comedy,” Seinfeld said. “I did say that. That’s not true. It’s not true…. If you’re Lindsay Vonn, if you’re a champion skier, you can put the gates anywhere you want on the mountain and she’s going to make the gate. That’s comedy. Whatever the culture is, we make the gate. You don’t make the gate, you’re out of the game. The game is where is the gate and how do I make the gate to get down the hill.
Does culture change, and are there things that I use to say that [I can’t because] people are always moving [the gate]? Yes, but that’s the biggest and easiest target. You can’t say certain words, whatever they are, about groups. So what? The accuracy of your observation has to be 100 times finer than that just to be a comedian … So I don’t think, as I said, the “extreme left” has done anything to inhibit the art of comedy. I’m taking that back now, officially.”
Looks like Jerry Seinfeld doesn’t have the courage to stand behind what he said. Perhaps his former Seinfeld co-star Julia Louis-Dreyfus, a far less successful and far less humorous Hollywood type “showed him the error of his ways,” during her interview with The New York Times where she disagreed with him.
They both seem to have forgotten how the “woke” left started attacking their classic comedy series as far back as 2015, as Christian Toto pointed out a few years ago, the Left labelled one of TV’s supreme sitcoms as too “racist” and “sexist” to enjoy. As Toto points out, that particular article only appeared after Jerry Seinfeld said he was never going to play any college gigs because students are too easily offended.
If you stick a thumb in the woke mob’s eye they quickly retaliate.
Still, the article didn’t inspire a movement. Nor did subsequent pieces hammering similar themes. The far-Left Bustle attacked singular jokes from the classic show, 13 in total, as being offensive with its 2018 screed.
John Nolte at Breitbart believes Jerry is definitely making a mistake to backpeddle on his prescient comments.
Leftists are bullying comedy and comedians for only one reason — to ensure comedy is less honest and to scare comedians into not telling certain inconvenient truths.
Seinfeld is a coward.
I’m now awarding all my delegates to Ricky Gervais and Dave Chappelle.
The left has ruined comedy, so he wasn’t wrong. His mistake was caving to the mob by apologizing. Jerry Seinfeld is no longer relevant and the culture will move on and the culture war will carry on.
Here’s a helpful video that might recalibrate Mr. Seinfeld.
Why Woke Comedians Aren't Funny
Related Jerry Seinfeld Calls Out Extreme Left: “Wokeness’ is Killing Comedy
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