Jerry Seinfeld says being target of pro-Palestinian protests ‘so dumb’

Jerry Seinfeld says being the target of pro-Palestinian protests at his comedy shows is “so dumb,” arguing demonstrators need to “correct their aim.”

“I love that these young people, they’re trying to get engaged with politics,” Seinfeld said on an episode of Bari Weiss’s “Honestly” podcast, released Tuesday.

“We have to just correct their aim a little bit. They don’t seem to understand that, as comedians, we really don’t control anything,” the 70-year-old comic said. 

Seinfeld, who is Jewish, publicly voiced his support for Israel in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas and has denounced antisemitism. 

Weiss, a former conservative columnist for The New York Times, recalled footage of Seinfeld being confronted by protesters who dubbed him a “genocide supporter” and “Nazi scum” while leaving one of her talks in February.

Dozens of students reportedly walked out of the Duke University commencement ceremony in May, ahead of Seinfeld’s scheduled speech.

The war in Gaza has killed about 35,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilian and combatant deaths. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to eliminate Hamas following the militant group’s Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel that killed about 1,200 people.

Asked by Weiss, founder of site The Free Press, about facing protesters, Seinfeld replied, “It’s so silly. It’s like, they want to they want to express this sincere, intense rage. But again, a little off target.”

“So that’s, to me, comedic,” he said.

Seinfeld traveled to Tel Aviv in December to meet with family members of people being held hostage by Hamas. In his interview with Weiss, he called the Israel trip the “most powerful experience” of his life, while appearing to choke up.

The former “Seinfeld” star, who’s largely shied away from talking politics throughout his career, compared political parties on both the left and the right to “mobs.”

“They’re mobs believing their own crap, right? That’s what a political party is: We’re gonna make up a bunch of nonsense and we’ll all agree to it,” he said.

“Let’s print up some bumper stickers and get out there kids — that’s politics,” Seinfeld cracked. 

“We’re tribal animals. We’re social creatures. We look for agreement and consensus. We’re driven by agreement and consensus and mob rule — it gives us comfort, gives us certainty,” he told Weiss.

“It’s all BS,” he said.