Jerry Seinfeld has admitted he was wrong to blame “the extreme left” for the downfall of network TV comedies.
While appearing on the latest episode of comedian Tom Papa’s Breaking Bread podcast, Seinfeld expressed his regret for making the comments and said “it’s not true” that the “extreme left has done anything to inhibit the art of comedy.”
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Seinfeld added he was “taking that back now officially” while admitting, “It’s not my business to like or not like where the culture is at.”
Earlier in the conversation, Seinfeld compared comedians to Olympic skiers like Lindsey Vonn, who have to “make the gate” wherever it’s located on the mountain. “Whatever the culture is, we make the gate,” he explained. “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 and get down the hill in the way I want to.”
“So does culture change and are there things I used to say that I can’t say that everybody’s always moving — yeah, but that’s the biggest, easiest target,” he continued. “You can’t say certain words… about [certain] groups. So what? The accuracy of your observation has to be 100 times finer than that to just be a comedian.”
In a New Yorker interview published this past April, Seinfeld claimed that sitcoms are no longer dominant as a result of “extreme left and P.C. crap, and people worrying so much about offending other people.”
While usual suspects like Fox News host Greg Gutfeld agreed with the comments, Seinfeld’s former co-star Julia Louis-Dreyfus called it “a red flag” when comedians “complain about political correctness.”
Elsewhere in the podcast, Seinfeld set the record straight about a comment long attributed to him about refusing to perform at colleges because “the kids are too P.C.” and disavowed the sentiment.
“First of all, I never said it, but if you think I said it, it’s not true,” Seinfeld said. “I play colleges all the time. I have no problem with [performing for] kids… So that perception that I don’t play colleges — wrong.”
However, it’s worth noting that a group of pro-Palestine students walked out of his Duke commencement speech in May over his vocal support of Israel.
Listen to the full episode of Breaking Bread with Tom Papa below. The relevant segment begins around the 25:50 mark.
