Justice

Jerry Seinfeld Thinks Political Correctness is Ruining Comedy

June 8th 2015

The legendary Jerry Seinfeld doesn't perform shows on college campuses anymore, as he thinks college kids are crippled by political correctness (PC).

In a new radio interview with ESPN’s Colin Cowherd to promote Seinfeld's web series "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee," the longtime comedian acknowledged that our PC culture has been hard for many other comedians such as Chris Rock and Larry the Cable Guy.

"I hear that all the time," Seinfeld said. "I don't play colleges but I hear a lot of people tell me 'don't go near colleges, they're so PC.' I'll give you an example. My daughter is 14. My wife says to [my 14-year-old daughter], ‘Well, you know, in the next couple of years, I think you’re going to want to be hanging around the city more on the weekends, so you can see boys.’ And you know what my daughter says? She says ‘that’s sexist.’ They just want to use these words. 'That’s racist. That’s sexist. That’s prejudice.’ They don’t know what the [bleep] they’re talking about.”

When asked whether the PC culture hurts comedy, Seinfeld said, "Yes it does."

Seinfeld noted, however, that comedian Louis C.K. is unaffected by some of the criticism he's gotten for his raunchy acts. A few weeks ago, C.K. was blasted in the media for making a joke about pedophilia during "Saturday Night Live." C.K. did not apologize for his poorly-received joke though, and Seinfeld says this is what makes him so wonderful.

"Louis's great gift is that he doesn’t worry, he just does his thing," Seinfeld continued. "If I wanted to say something, I would say it. Everybody has their hot zone ... and that's the jokes you do. For me, I talk about the subjects I talk about, because for some reasons, I can make them funny. The ones I can't make funny, you don't hear."

Late last year, HBO's Bill Maher talked about the politically correct nature of college campuses after UC Berkeley students petitioned to remove him as the December graduation speaker because of comments he'd made about Islam.

"They invited me because it was the 50th anniversary of something that is legendary on that campus-- the Berkeley Free Speech Movement. I guess they don't teach irony in college anymore," Maher said. "And then a few weeks ago, Ben Affleck was on our show and we had a discussion about Islam that I've had a thousands and one nights with a lot of other people, but he's an A-list movie star, so now our very deep media started to care about it ... Whoever told you you only had to hear what didn't upset you? The University has come down on my side saying what I hope they would say all along, which is 'we're liberals, we're supposed to like free speech!'"

Former NYC Michael Bloomberg touched on similar points in his 2013 speech at Harvard, where he pointed out that many commencement speakers have been pushed away because of political correctness and that this is damaging to those who want to learn and grow.

"This spring, it has been disturbing to see a number of college commencement speakers withdraw -- or have their invitations rescinded -- after protests," Bloomberg said. "In each case, liberals silenced a voice -- and denied an honorary degree -- to individuals they deemed politically objectionable. This is an outrage. If you want the freedom to worship as you wish, to speak as you wish, and to marry whom you wish, you must tolerate my freedom to do so -- or not do so -- too. What I do may offend you. You may find my actions immoral or unjust. But attempting to restrict my freedoms in ways that you would not restrict your own leads only to injustice." 


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