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Jerry Seinfeld, the cocreator of one of my all-time favorite sitcoms, found himself under the spotlight recently. It all happened after he had tried to take back some comments he’s made in the past about the impact the extreme Left and political correctness have on comedy. Here is the clip of his somewhat awkward retraction on Tom Papa’s podcast – the Breaking Bread:

Before we get into it, just note his reluctance and the way he emphasizes “I have to say” or “I have to take back” which he even says more than once. If I didn’t know any better, I would think this was someone else’s idea. I believe there’s a reason why he chose to do this on an obscure YouTube with only several tens of thousands of subscribers, and I get the sense he just wanted to get this little struggle session over with. Now that we got that out of the way – let’s dive into the story because there’s a lot to unpack here.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that

Usually, when people deny something or make some sort of a disclaimer, it means there’s at least a grain of truth in whatever it is they are trying to distance themselves from. That is especially when said denial or disclaimer comes out of the blue or isn’t completely necessary. Otherwise, the Seinfeld quote in the title above wouldn’t have been funny nor become so iconic.

I think it is safe to say that this is exactly what’s going on here – the fact that Jerry “has to” say this actually proves it’s true and the Left does hurt comedy. If I had to sum this whole story in one line, it would be “The Left isn’t killing comedy” says comedian Jerry Seinfeld as he dies a little inside. Sounds like a post for The Babylon Bee, doesn’t it?

For the record, I did DM The Bee on Instagram and pitched this headline, but they never got back to me. I guess they get these sorts of pitches all the time and are just too busy.

A Jerry, divided against himself, cannot stand

There’s a glaring matzo-ball-size contradiction between Jerry’s current statement about what he said and didn’t say about colleges and his past statements in the matter.

To recap – in his first retraction Jerry stated that he had never said he didn’t play colleges because the kids are to PC and that he does colleges all the time. However, here is what he said in the interview that (according to him) started this whole misunderstanding:

I don’t play colleges, but I hear a lot of people tell me “Don’t go near colleges, they are so PC. Here, I’ll give you an example – My daughter is 14, my wife says to her “well you know, in the next couple of years I think maybe you are going to want to hang around the city more on the weekends so you can see boys”. You know what my daughter says? She says, “That sexist!”. They just want to use these words – that racist, that’s sexist, that’s prejudiced. They don’t even know what they are talking about.

And then, after the host asks him, “Does it hurt comedy?” he replies, “Yes, it does”.

So technically he is right. He heard it from other people that colleges are now too PC and didn’t actually say it himself, though judging by the rest of the interview he certainly agreed with their sentiment at the time. However, it seems that during his retraction he overcorrected a little – because he did say he didn’t play colleges, but now he says that’s not true, and he plays colleges all the time. So which one is it?

As for his second retraction about what he said to The New Yorker about how the extreme Left suppressed the art of comedy, here is a clip from that interview so you can judge for yourselves:

Thoughtful take from Jerry Seinfeld…

Left-wing, PC-culture has ruined comedy.

If you need a diversity committee to determine what’s funny, or have to placate the lowest common denominator, your culture is doomed. pic.twitter.com/jI5KFSawxK

— John LeFevre (@JohnLeFevre) April 28, 2024

By the way, the guy who interviews him is David Remnick, and a few years earlier he and Jerry Seinfeld both shared a segment on Late Night with Seth Meyers in which Jerry also noted how PC is bad for comedy.

You double-dipped the chip

This is not the first time Jerry Seinfeld caves and goes back on something he said because it might upset some people. The same thing happened seven years ago when he was on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and said he still enjoyed listening to Bill Cosby even after knowing about the horrendous things he did to women.

During the break Jerry probably had a talk with his publicist or something, because he decided to take that back as well:

Clearly there’s a pattern here. Jerry may criticize the Left sometimes, and even snap back at annoying reporters asking progressive questions, but I think it’s safe to say that when the chips are down, he is not the guy you want to have your back.

Serenity Now – Insanity Later

To me, this whole incident is a recreation of a scene in what many consider to be the best episode of Seinfeld – The Soup Nazi. I am referring to the scene in which he pretends he doesn’t know his girlfriend just so he can get the soup.

In fact, I think the “whatever you have to do just get the soup” is a much better analogy to him kowtowing to the extreme Left than his whole skiing and making the gates analogy. Because the people of the Extreme Left are just like the Soup Nazi. Just like him suddenly asking Goerge to pay for the bread, they will also keep arbitrarily making new demands. And when that inevitably happens, Jerry will probably again choose not to confront them for his own peace and well-being. But as we all found out in recent years accommodating the radical ideas of the extreme lefts – the crazy just keeps on coming.

That’s a shame

Honestly, I think Jerry missed a golden opportunity here (gold Jerry – gold!). Seeing him tiptoeing around a sensitive topic, awkwardly denying something which he’d previously stated as truth, and building tension and confusion between him and his host has reminded me of the great Norm MacDonald’s Deeply Closeted Gay Man bit he did on Conan O’Brien and Larry King:

Now imagine Jerry saying to Tom Papa “So I am telling you the Left is not killing comedy” the same way Norm delivered the line “So I am telling I am not gay!”. It would have been truly epic.

And this offends you as a Jewish person?

In my country, they speak of a man so perceptive, so sincere that he cannot help himself and has to call out on life’s absurdities and society’s hypocrisies – no matter who is at the receiving end of his insights. To spend even one night with such man and listen to him speak is said to be a painfully funny thought-provoking experience, most people dare not miss when the opportunity presents itself. This man is known as the comedian.

You may tell jokes, Mr. Seinfeld, but you are no comedian.