A slew of students walked out of Duke University’s commencement ceremony on Sunday to protest Israel’s war in Gaza just as the university’s commencement speaker, Jerry Seinfeld, was set to speak.
Videos posted on social media—but omitted from the university’s livestream—showed students walking out as Duke President Vincent Price introduced the comedian, who received an honorary doctorate. Other students erupted into dual jeers and cheers of “Jerry!”
student walkout at Duke university commencement as Jerry Seinfeld’s speech is announced. his introduction by university president is being drowned out by “free free Palestine” chants ❤️🔥🇵🇸 pic.twitter.com/oNLesaput3
— the great clown snorman (@iamschvitzing) May 12, 2024
Seinfeld’s speech largely steered clear of his recent public scuffles, focusing instead on jokes surrounding the students, AI, and his honorary degree. In a riff on the idea of privilege, though, he made specific mention of his heritage to loud cheers.
“I grew up a Jewish boy from New York,” Seinfeld said. “That is a privilege if you want to be a comedian.”
Seinfeld has uncharacteristically courted controversy in recent weeks since the Netflix debut of his film Unfrosted. He claimed to The New Yorker last month that “the extreme left and P.C. crap” killed comedy on television, despite various comedies airing on T.V. since his last cited example—All in the Family—last aired in 1979. While right-wing commentators like Elon Musk and Sean Hannity praised his comments, comedians and T.V. critics largely considered them out of touch.
Duke University students walking out of commencement ceremony as Jerry Seinfeld is introduced pic.twitter.com/ckJLAKUr97
— Your Thighness (@RevHonorable) May 12, 2024
His public comments on Israel’s war in Gaza have also caused strife for their ambiguity, particularly for a traditionally apolitical comedian staunchly opposed to tackling weighty topics. Seinfeld has repeatedly posted publicly since the Oct. 7 attack about his support of Israel, traveling to a kibbutz in December to meet with hostages’ families and discussing how he had to seek shelter during a missile attack. His wife, Jessica, has also publicly confirmed that she funded pro-Israel counterprotests on college campuses.
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goes to show you who the terroist are.
C’mon, there’s no ‘good guys’ in Jews vs Muslims. All religions are evil foreign psychotic mass murderous mental illness… religics been enjoying mass murdering each other for decades…
Seriously? But even if they have been killing each other for centuries, it’s been fairly easy to figure out the aggressor. In this war, Hamas attacked Israel in a continuation of what had been happening for years. With thousands of rockets a year being fired from the Palestinian area, Israel finally got to a breaking point. And with Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups being the cowards they are, the only way to eliminate them is to go to the tunnels and civilian locations where they hide behind, or underneath, women and children.
I hope this enlightens you to what is actually happening.
So are comedians or empty headed actors a better choice to do graduation from college better than business leaders ,
Military leaders , medical or scientific experts , Spence experts ???? Just wonder !
for once I will agree with you. It seems our society values the wrong skills…
Even worse is professional ball players…
As Netanyahu’s IDF keep killing civilians and destroying innocent people’s lives just for the sake of his political career and the dream of a Palestine without any pesky Palestinians, Israel is providing a fertile ground for the recruitment of future terrorists (or freedom fighters depending on the point of view).
Any sympathy Jews have won for their suffering during the Holocaust has been spend it wastefully during Bibi handling of this attack and its actions will endanger the lives of Jews and Americans everywhere…..Maybe Seinfeld must give that some thought.
As far as us is concerned, we strongly condemn Putin’s attacks on civilians in Ukraine , BUT, when it comes to Israel we turn a blind eye , use our veto power for their behalf in the UN and give them more bombs to continue…we are a bunch of hypocrites
There’s no ‘good guys’ in Jews vs Muslims. All religions are evil foreign psychotic mass murderous mental illness… religics been enjoying mass murdering each other for decades…