Jerry Seinfeld He has stayed away from controversy for decades, reserving his strongest opinions for what is arguably the mundane. But his recent comments about what is acceptable for comedy, as well as his continued support for Israel, appear to have sparked a new wave of frustration with the comedian. This has escalated today, in the form of a student strike at Duke University's graduation ceremony, just as it did in… Seinfeld The star took the stage to give the school's commencement speech.
according to Video posted on social mediaan introduction to Seinfeld by the head of the school Vincent Price He was “drowned out” by chants of “free, free Palestine.” The rallying cry seemed to come from both the soon-to-be graduates sitting in Brooks Field as well as the people in the surrounding rows at Wallace Wade Stadium.
Another video The students are shown standing, raising Palestinian flags, and leaving the stadium as Seinfeld prepares to speak. According to The Daily Beast, the live broadcast of the graduation ceremony cut off the protest immediately after it happened.
Seinfeld, who also received an honorary doctorate from the school, made no mention of the protest in his speech, which focused on general life advice for graduates. WRAL reports that the still-working attitude declared three keys to life: hard work, paying attention, and falling in love. (It should be noted that all activities seemed to forever evade his namesake character.)
“Whatever you do, I don't care if it's your job, your hobby, your relationship, getting a reservation at M Sushi, or making an effort,” he reportedly said from the stage. “Just pure effort, stupid, no real idea what I'm doing here. Effort always gives positive value, even if the result of that effort is complete failure to achieve the desired result. That's the rule of life. Just waving a bat and praying is not a bad way to deal with a lot of The things.
As Seinfeld spoke, the departing graduates chanted from the parking lot: “Reveal, retract, we won’t stop, we won’t rest.” times Reports.
Jerry Seinfeld's latest bat swing is Not frozen, a Netflix film that offers a satirical look at the creation of Pop-Tart. the Comedians in cars getting coffee The creator has been everywhere promoting the film, including an appearance on last week's episode of Saturday Night Live Where he portrayed “the man who did a lot of journalism.”
However, some might argue that the problem was not quantity, but quality: in an interview with The New Yorker, the 70-year-old confusingly claimed that the “far left and PC crap” had killed off televised comedy, despite there being many comedy properties available to watch every day of the week. Many on the far right praised these statements, while others said the statements were far from reality, but perhaps not surprising given some of the views expressed in the popular sitcom.
The comedian, who is the father of two Duke University students The New York Times Described as an “active supporter” of the school, he has been a vocal supporter of Israel since the October 7 attack on the country by Hamas; His wife also made headlines for actively funding a violent pro-Israel counter-protest at UCLA last week.
the times Reports indicate that when Seinfeld was announced as this year's speaker, students such as doctoral program graduates Rev. Dr. Stephen Withers The father wrote to Price to oppose the planned Seinfeld appearance, calling the ongoing war in Gaza a “genocide.” Talk to The New York Times“There will be no start to business as usual,” Withers warned, as students were prepared to “raise our voices in any way we can.”
