Jerry Seinfeld has sparked backlash after comparing the Free Palestine movement to the Ku Klux Klan during an unannounced appearance at Duke University this week.
The 71-year-old comedian took to the stage on Tuesday to introduce Israeli speaker Omer Shem Tov. But before turning over the spotlight, Seinfeld made comments about pro-Palestinian activism that quickly drew attention.
“Free Palestine is, to me, just … you’re free to say you don’t like Jews. Just say you don’t like Jews,” Seinfeld told the audience, according to Duke University student paper The Chronicle.
“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.’ OK, that’s honest.”
The event, sponsored by Jewish student organisation Chabad at Duke and the university’s Provost’s Initiative on the Middle East, was not advertised in advance.
A Duke spokesperson told The Chronicle that Seinfeld asked for his appearance to remain unannounced so that Tov’s story stayed at the centre of the evening.
The university also emphasised that Seinfeld’s appearance did not mean his views were endorsed by Duke. “Duke does not preview the remarks of speakers who are invited to campus, and the invitation of speakers to campus does not imply any endorsement of their remarks,” the spokesperson said.
Seinfeld, who is Jewish, has openly supported Israel throughout its ongoing war in Gaza, travelling to Tel Aviv in 2023 to meet families of hostages. At Tuesday’s event, he said that visit was an effort to “call attention” to their plight.
The war has since devastated Gaca. According to UN figures, at least 61,000 Palestinians have been killed since October 2023, and more than 154,000 wounded.
The UN’s human rights office said last year that Israel’s military campaign in the territory used methods “consistent with genocide”. Two prominent Israeli human rights organisations have also called the horrific atrocities happening to Gazans a genocide.
This isn’t the first time Seinfeld’s stance on Israel and Palestine has attracted protest. In May 2024, around 100 Duke students walked out of his commencement address, some chanting “Free Palestine” and waving flags, according to The Guardian.
He also faced heckling at a comedy show in Sydney in June, when an audience member accused him of supporting genocide. At that performance, Seinfeld replied sarcastically: “We have a genius, ladies and gentlemen. He’s solved the Middle East. He’s solved it! It’s the Jewish comedians, that’s who we have to get.”
Back in February, during a Saturday Night Live anniversary event, an influencer tried to get him to say “Free Palestine” on camera. Seinfeld declined, remarking: “I don’t care about Palestine.”
Meanwhile, the rest of many of Seinfeld’s colleagues in Hollywood have signed a pledge to not work with Israeli film groups. “In this urgent moment of crisis, where many of our governments are enabling the carnage in Gaza, we must do everything we can to address complicity in that unrelenting horror,” the pledge by the Film Workers for Palestine reads.
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