Jerry Seinfeld likened the Free Palestine movement to the Ku Klux Klan — even saying those who use the phrase “Free Palestine” are worse than the white supremacist group — at a student event at Duke University meant to honor hostages who are being held in Gaza.

Seinfeld spoke at the school in Durham, North Carolina, to introduce a former Israeli hostage, Omer Shem Tov, when he made the remarks, according to the university’s student newspaper, The Duke Chronicle. He reportedly started by saying, in reference to the Free Palestine activist movement, “Just say you don’t like Jews.”

“By saying ‘Free Palestine,’ you’re not admitting what you really think. So it’s actually — compared to the Ku Klux Klan, I’m actually thinking the Klan is actually a little better here, because they can come right out and say, ‘We don’t like Blacks, we don’t like Jews.’ Okay, that’s honest,'" the Chronicle reported Seinfeld said.

  • xyzzy@lemmy.today
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    3 months ago

    “I don’t care about Palestine,” says the comfortable billionaire. He doesn’t mean he doesn’t care about the issue. He’s just OK with genocide as a final solution, like the vast majority of Israel.

    “I don’t preach about [the war]. I have my personal feelings about it that I discuss privately. It’s not part of what I can do comedically, but my feelings are very strong.”

    His feelings:

    Jerry Seinfeld

  • Smeagol666@crazypeople.online
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    Zionism is not Judaism, Jerry, you pedo fuckface.

    Edit: His girlfriend was 17 when he was 39, so I guess technically he’s not a pedo, but goddamit that’s creepy as fuck. When I was 39, my oldest child was 20, so maybe it’s my hang-up.

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    3 months ago

    TIL Jerry Seinfeld is genocide supporter. Anyway, he is a fucking rich comedian, he knows nothing about anything. He thinks tha being jew or white american gives you rigth to kill entire nation. Scumbag.

      • [migrated to PieFed]@lemmy.ml
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        Jerry Seinfeld is also a pedophile: https://www.thedailybeast.com/jerry-seinfelds-17-year-old-girlfriend-saga-resurfaces-after-duke-walkout/

        While Jerry’s statement “‘Free Palestine’ are worse than the Ku Klux Klan” is absolutely moronic, he is not attracted to prepubescent children:

        “Pedophilia (alternatively spelled paedophilia) is a psychiatric disorder in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a sexual attraction to prepubescent children. Although girls typically begin the process of puberty at age 10 or 11, and boys at age 11 or 12, psychiatric diagnostic criteria for pedophilia extend the cut-off point for prepubescence to age 13.” ―https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedophilia

          • [migrated to PieFed]@lemmy.ml
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            3 months ago

            still illegal

            Apparently it wasn’t:

            “The minimum legal age of consent to sex in New York is now and was then 17. They dated for approximately four years, from 1993 to 1997. During the relationship, she transferred from George Washington University to UCLA, in part to be with Seinfeld; she cited constant press coverage and missing New York City as reasons for the relationship ending.” ―https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoshanna_Lonstein_Gruss

            I don’t understand why people feel the need to call others things they’re not and simultaneously want to be taken seriously in a debate. If words have no meaning then what’s the point? Jerry Seinfeld strikes me as a pretentious greedy immoral douchebag and his comparison with the KKK can stand on its own as a proper reason for ridicule.

            • Soup@lemmy.world
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              3 months ago

              While agree that words should have meanings, he definitely still was nearly 40 and apparently preferring the company of a 17 year old. Not a pedo by the evidence presented, ok, but that ice is thin.

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                3 months ago

                While agree that words should have meanings, he definitely still was nearly 40 and apparently preferring the company of a 17 year old. Not a pedo by the evidence presented, ok, but that ice is thin.

                That’s not thin ice. Paedophiles are attracted to prepubescent children, i.e., below the age of 13. Here’s where the ice is at its thinnest to diagnose someone as a paedophile, while ethically one is already submerged of course, when acted upon. It’s obviously not to be taken lightly with traumatic life-changing consequences when indulged. This is why it’s important to not throw terms around ignoring their meaning. People who actually are born with this condition should find ways to get psychological help to prevent it manifesting into reality. Irresponsibly throwing reputation destroying terms around causes people not to communicate, to suppress, and in the worst cases to satisfy their urges in secret which in turn increases the most wicked forms of suffering.

                The aforementioned conditions are not at all present in Seinfeld-Lonstein’s case, where context matters. Here’s a quote from a book I’m reading which is an apt litmus test to decide if any relationship is weird or not.

                “I spent Saturday evening at Leonberg. In Lisa [Remppis] I’ve found a person I can love wholeheartedly. Don’t misunderstand me, though. I realize Lisa’s half a child still, and I’m not depriving her of her childishness. I can’t philosophize with her.” ―Hans Scholl, At the Heart of the White Rose: Letters and Diaries of Hans and Sophie Scholl

                Judging from the sources I’ve read Shoshanna and Jerry were able to talk to each other without one manipulating the other. While it’s statistically more unlikely considering their indeed unusual age gap, it does happen. They had a relationship for four years, so clearly it seems she was fine with it. Conversely, I’ve seen people in their thirties talk to each other where one was clearly dumbing themself down when talking to their significant other, which seemed quite weird.

                TL;DR: there’s a night and day difference between actual indulging paedophiles who cause human trafficking and unimaginable suffering/death, and haphazardly being attracted to someone in their late adolescence. Conflating the two does the victims and the justice system a disservice. The former belongs to the most horrible forms of human depravity, while the latter, well, doesn’t. If one needs to manipulate another to form a connection, then it is ethically wrong regardless of age.

                • Soup@lemmy.world
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                  Ok, so the guy goes for as young as he possibly can and we’re going to assume that that confirms that he wouldn’t going any younger if he could? That’s the thin ice I’m talking about. I agree that we cannot call him a pedophile because there is no direct evidence of it, I’m on board with that, but his actions are not doing a lot for him. If he said “oh yea I like 24 year olds and older” that’s still weird for his age but it shows that his limit is a personal one and not a legal one.

                  It’s also weird that he says he could love someone whole-heartedly but also couldn’t properly communicate with her on more nuanced topics. Like, what made this minor so great and why could he not find that in anyone between 30-45y/o?

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          There’s actually a separate word for people who prey on teenagers, if you want to be precise. I don’t remember what it is. I’m not up to date on my varieties of sex offender and I don’t want to put that in my search history.

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    He’s like the forerunner of all the conservative Joe Rogan douches who have made it so that I can no longer publicly say I like stand-up comedy anymore.

    They’ve literally ruined something fucking sacred.

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      Hmm, I’m not sure that’s an issue. Do you automatically think that people think Joe Rogan or Seinfeld when they think of standup comedy? That’s barely what they do. I’m sure most people are neutral or maybe like the same comedians as you. Don’t overthink it.

      Whenever I’ve brought it up as something I enjoyed, people will ask who I like and we have a fun conversation about it.

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        The number of right-leaning, man-o-sphere “stand-up comedians” has exploded such that I don’t feel comfortable saying I’m into it on, let’s say, a first date, without heavily contextualizing/clarifying.

        Edited to add one other thing: I literally had a close friend up and move to fucking Austin as a result of that shit. I’m maybe a little sensitive and pissy about it all. It’s so stupid.

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          Interesting. Maybe because I’m in Canada. The polarization is pretty nuts down there.

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    A non funny man. There isn’t one thing he could do to make me break face. Unless he’s gone down the IDGAF road. At this point he’s gonna start cracking out those horrible Holocaust Jokes. Go ahead Jer, you dim witted zionist piece of shit. You certainly got us Goys for a minute. We’re on to you & the rest of your despicable kind. The zionists, NOT the people that are/ and or identify as followers of Judaism. The christians in the USA need to separate themselves with some serious terms from the christian nationalists. Otherwise, it will be a lump sum, winner take all. And believe me if you have the faith a made up god is on your side to deliver justice & defend from other perspectives, I am frightened b/c I do not honestly know how to handle this bunch of wretched miscreants. I do worry for their safety.

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    Exactly what I’d expect from the billionaire leech class.

    I wonder what he thinks about a thirty-eight year old man dating a seventeen year old? Oh wait we know already.

    Dude’s been fuckin’ gross for years, nobody should take moral advice from this pedo.

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    Not to excuse him or anything—but I have to remind myself that high-profile targets of anti-semitism (or racism in general) are exposed to orders of magnitude more of it than private individuals, and are correspondingly more likely to interpret it as a cause of things that anyone else can see have other motivations.

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      Being high profile has multiple aspects. One is that they’re targeted. Another is that their public statements can get a lot of traction.

      So, I don’t excuse him in any way to spread propaganda and misinformation, even if it’s a result of his personal trauma.

      He has a responsibility not to do that as a long time high profile person.

    • kreskin@lemmy.world
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      And yet we are all judged by and responsible for our actions, no exceptions, no excuses.

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    in reference to the Free Palestine activist movement, “Just say you don’t like Jews.”

    Fuck Jerry Seinfeld and this dishonest bullshit. Hiding Israeli crimes behind false accusations of anti-Semitism.

    Dried up has-been should leave the public stage.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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      You know, its kinda crazy that everyone has conveniently forgotten Palestinians are Semites.

      I have to wonder what happens the day the Ashkenazi sect of Judaism loses control of the country and more militant factions decide they aren’t pure enough. Will Jerry Seinfield still want to vacation in Tel Aviv?

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      More like a dried-up never-was. He was cast in his eponymous show precisely because he was such an unlikeable, mediocre comedian.

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        I don’t know much about the origins of that show. I do agree that he has always been highly overrated and received undue credit that should go to the writers and Larry David. Then he didn’t do anything for 20 years and now he wants to pretend he’s the “king of comedy”.

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    I never liked him with his canned laughter sitcom and his conformist suburban humor—a bit like a pop song that hasn’t aged well, the kind that was successful in its day but is so unoriginal, boring, and unimaginative that no one wants to hear it anymore.