Jerry Seinfeld has laughed off being criticised by pro-Palestinian protesters over his support for Israel, describing the aiming of their “sincere intense rage” at a stand up as “off target” and “comedic”.
The Jewish stand-up comedian, 70, faced heckling from a protester during a recent gig, while a group of students walked out of a commencement speech he delivered at Duke University in North Carolina earlier this month.
Reflecting on the furore during an interview, the Seinfeld star poked fun at the protesters, saying: “It’s so dumb. When we get protesters [at gigs] occasionally, I love to say to the audience, ‘You know I love that these young people are trying to get engaged with politics - we just have to correct their aim a little bit.'”
Speaking to Baris Weiss on the journalist’s Honestly podcast, he added: “They don’t seem to understand as comedians we really don’t control anything.”
In February, as he left a speech given by Weiss in New York on the state of the world Jewry, protesters chanted yelled at Seinfeld, calling him a “genocide supporter” and “Nazi scum.”
But the Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee host was apparently unruffled, and was seen smiling and waving after exiting the venue.
Discussing the incident he said: “It’s so silly. It’s like, they want to express this sincere, intense rage. But again, a little off-target.
“So that’s, to me, comedic.”
The star turned more sombre and struggled to speak when asked about a trip he made to Israel in December to show solidarity with the Jewish state.
The visit was “the most powerful experience of my life, I’m sure,” he said.
When pressed by Weiss to elaborate, Seinfeld became visibly emotional and found it difficult to articulate his thoughts.
During the trip, Seinfeld and his wife Jessica visited the devastated border community of Kibbutz Be’eri and met with freed hostages and survivors of the October 7 attacks.
Seinfeld was also questioned on whether he thought about “the Jewishness” of his hit sitcom while it was on TV. He answered that at the time he “never” did, but that he does now.
The star added: “The first time I went to Israel after I finished the show and saw the way they reacted to me...I realised this is not just a normal interaction of celebrity public interface, this is different.
“I meant something, which I never knew and it gave me a wonderful feeling, like, oh, I didn’t realise what I was doing had another value that I didn’t know about, and I of course loved it.”
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