Iconic stand-up comic Jerry Seinfeld made waves recently with his assessment of how leftists and their “PC crap” have restricted the ability of modern-day comedians to perform their craft.
Jerry Seinfeld says the Left ruined comedy:
“This is the result of the extreme left, and PC crap, and people worrying so much about offending other people.” pic.twitter.com/5sxk12KVBn
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) April 29, 2024
Now, John O’Hurley, one of his co-stars on the ’90s sitcom “Seinfeld” has joined him in decrying the impact of woke culture on comedy.
As reported by Daily Wire:
He said that leftists have caused the country to lose “our ability to be silly.”
“That’s a sad thing when you think about it,” he added.
O’Hurley said that Seinfeld was the cleanest comedy there has been in a long time, and the fact that even he won’t perform for certain groups in today’s world is significant.
“There wasn’t a cleaner comic in the business in the last 50 years of our laughs, and for him to say that — and he said this about 10 years ago, when he said, ‘I no longer am doing college campuses.’ He says they’re mean-spirited,” O’Hurley said.
“Historically, ethnic groups would be searching to be included in the comic repertoire of our culture,” he said. “And now — no, no, no — we can’t. And it’s not that they don’t want it, it’s that there’s a select group of those who know better who feel as though they should be deprived of it,” he said.
Seinfeld’s remarks sparked a wide-ranging debate on social media:
The era of Seinfeld and Friends was the last stand before humor got "offensive".
Woke liberals destroy everything!!
— 🇺🇸 Pismo 🇺🇸 (@Pismo_B) April 28, 2024
You can’t be funny or interesting if you’re afraid of offending other people.
And guess what? It’s insulting to other people to assume they can’t handle criticism or something playful mockery.
Assuming people can’t handle something is the greatest insult one can make.
— Paul A. Szypula 🇺🇸 (@Bubblebathgirl) April 28, 2024
And some of his fellow comics agree:
NEW: Jerry Seinfeld called out "the extreme left" & "PC crap" for destroying comedy & sitcoms saying "The wokes won't let us make comedy anymore."
I spoke with Legendary Comedian Steve Harvey on #FirstClassFatherhood who agrees the Cancel Culture & PC has killed comedy! pic.twitter.com/D1YIw16yAu
— Alec Lace (@AlecLace) April 28, 2024
For his part, O’Hurley has long expressed political views that are more conservative than most of his Hollywood colleagues.
He elaborated on his views in an 2019 interview, per Yahoo:
“You just feel like your ideas are not welcome, that everybody is moving in a lock-step,” O’Hurley says. “It creates a very uncreative atmosphere, and I don’t think it’s something that’s healthy for Hollywood. I believe that all ideas should be welcome, that’s the nature of creativity. The artistic expression is the act of the infinite possibility. And in order to have that, you have to have all the colors available on the palette. You have to have all perspectives of what you’re working with, and for people to want to cancel each other out because of the way that they feel, is just a dangerous and unhealthy atmosphere.”
O’Hurley’s suggestion for remedying that is for people to approach everything with civility.
“All ideas are welcome. Whatever my political thoughts are are really nobody else’s business and… they don’t deserve to be celebrated just because I’m a celebrity,” O’Hurley says. “I don’t feel as though I have an additional pulpit, that I’ve earned that because I’m a so-called celebrity.”
Here’s a clip of O’Hurley’s recent remarks:
Jerry Seinfeld says the extreme left killed comedy. Seinfeld actor, John O'Hurley, gives Primetime his take. pic.twitter.com/f8YTMjX14N
— Jesse Watters (@JesseBWatters) April 30, 2024
Join the conversation!
Please share your thoughts about this article below. We value your opinions, and would love to see you add to the discussion!