First "Unfrosted," and now this. On Tuesday, Jerry Seinfeld ignited a firestorm of controversy with his highly provocative remarks regarding the Israel-Gaza conflict.
Appearing at a Duke University event, the legendary comedian drew a staggering parallel, likening supporters of the Free Palestine movement to members of the Ku Klux Klan, even suggesting that the former were somehow more reprehensible than the notoriously hateful white supremacist group. “To me, 'Free Palestine' is just... you're free to say you don’t like Jews,” Seinfeld remarked, as reported by The Chronicle, Duke University’s student newspaper, which covered Seinfeld’s appearance Tuesday evening. “By saying ‘Free Palestine,’ you’re not admitting what you really think. So, compared to the Ku Klux Klan, I’m actually thinking the Klan is a little better here because they can come right out and say, ‘We don’t like Blacks, we don’t like Jews.’ OK, that’s honest.”
The event featured Seinfeld sharing the stage with Omer Shem Tov, an Israeli who had been abducted by Hamas during the Oct. 7 Nova music festival and endured 505 harrowing days in captivity. Seinfeld also recounted his recent journey to Tel Aviv, where he met with families of hostages in a bid to amplify their desperate situation and bring greater attention to their plight.
A Duke University spokesperson quoted by The Chronicle stated, “Duke does not preview the remarks of speakers who are invited to campus, and the invitation of speakers to campus does not imply any endorsement of their remarks.”
A representative for Seinfeld declined to comment when approached. The Hollywood Reporter also reached out to two of the Duke student groups involved in organizing the event but had not received a response at the time of reporting.
Seinfeld has been a vocal supporter of Israel throughout the conflict, though he has typically expressed his views with far greater caution. During the publicity tour for his Netflix film "Unfrosted" last year, he told GQ, “I don’t preach about [the conflict]. I have my personal feelings about it that I discuss privately. It’s not part of what I can do comedically, but my feelings are very strong.”
Also last year, during a comedy show in Sydney, Australia, Seinfeld faced heckling from a pro-Palestinian protester who accused him of being a “genocide supporter.” Seinfeld shot back sarcastically, “We have a genius, ladies and gentlemen. He’s solved the Middle East. He’s solved it! It’s the Jewish comedians, that’s who we have to get.”
Then, in February, at an event commemorating Saturday Night Live’s 50th anniversary, an influencer attempted to coax Seinfeld into saying “Free Palestine” while snapping a selfie. Seinfeld’s response was blunt: “I don’t care about Palestine.”
