Jerry Seinfeld walked back his remarks about the “extreme left” killing comedy in an interview with the “Breaking Bread with Tom Papa” podcast on Tuesday.
Seinfeld, co-creator and star of his eponymous 1990s sitcom, criticized political correctness in an interview with They New Yorker in April. He suggested it was impeding comedians who have to worry about offending people.
“You just expected, there’ll be some funny stuff we can watch on TV tonight,” he said in the interview. “Well, guess what? Where is it? This is the result of the extreme left and PC crap, and people worrying so much about offending other people.”
On Tuesday, Seinfeld expressed regret over his comments and said they are “not true.”
“I don’t think, as I said, ‘the extreme left’ has done anything to inhibit the art of comedy,” Seinfeld said in the podcast. “I’m taking that back officially.”
Representatives for Seinfeld did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Seinfeld added that culture always changes and a comedian’s job is to adjust to it. He said it was “not my business” to like or dislike how popular culture has shifted.
“Whatever the culture is, we make the gate,” Seinfeld said, using a sketchy analogy. “You don’t make the gate, you’re out of the game.”
Conservative pundits such as Fox News’ Sean Hannity and YouTube commentator Benny Johnson embraced Seinfeld’s previous remarks.
So Elon Musk shared Seinfeld’s comments at the time, with the caption, “Make comedy legal again!”
The influence of political correctness in comedy has been a hot topic for years. Some comedians have bemoaned the fact that they can’t say certain words or make certain jokes anymore out of fear of offending people. Others, like Seinfeld’s former co-star Julia Louis-Dreyfussaid tolerance in comedy is “not a bad thing.”
“Breaking Bread” host Papa told Seinfeld that it was “refreshing” to hear him say that the shift in culture and young people’s preferences was “not our business.”
Seinfeld said he didn’t realize people were paying attention to him or would care about his comments.
“Comedy is hard — big giant period,” he said.
He also addressed his previous comments about missing “dominant masculinity.“He said people like John F. Kennedy, Muhammad Ali and Sean Connery were people he aspired to when he was younger.
“What I was really saying is I miss big personalities, that’s what I was really saying,” he clarified.
