Jerry Seinfeld took back statements he previously made, attributing leftist-driven political correctness as being a death knell for comed...
Jerry Seinfeld took back statements he previously made, attributing leftist-driven political correctness as being a death knell for comedy.
The 70-year-old comedian made the initial comments during an interview with The New Yorker in April. At the time, he said, “People [are] worrying so much about offending other people” that the art of comedy has been going downhill.
“When you write a script and it goes into four or five different hands, committees, groups—’Here’s our thought about this joke.’ Well, that’s the end of your comedy,” Seinfeld declared at the time.
Now, the sitcom creator is changing his story. On an episode of his “Breaking Bread” podcast released on Tuesday, Seinfeld told fellow comedian Tom Papa that he “regrets” making those statements, which went viral at the time.
“I said that the ‘extreme left’ has suppressed the art of comedy. I did say that. That’s not true,” Seinfeld told Papa. “It’s not true. If you’re a champion skier, you can put the gates anywhere you want on the mountain and you’re 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.”
He continued, “Does culture change and are there things that I used 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 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.”
Seinfeld also denied rumors that he was unwilling to perform at colleges anymore.
“First of all, I never said it, but if you think I said it, it’s not true. I play colleges all the time,” the celeb said. “I have no problem with kids, performing for them. I was just at the University of Indiana. I do colleges all the time.”
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