Jerry Seinfeld likened the Free Palestine movement to the Ku Klux Klan — even saying those who use the phrase “Free Palestine” are worse than the white supremacist group — at a student event at Duke University meant to honor hostages who are being held in Gaza.

Seinfeld spoke at the school in Durham, North Carolina, to introduce a former Israeli hostage, Omer Shem Tov, when he made the remarks, according to the university’s student newspaper, The Duke Chronicle. He reportedly started by saying, in reference to the Free Palestine activist movement, “Just say you don’t like Jews.”

“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.’ Okay, that’s honest,'" the Chronicle reported Seinfeld said.

  • xyzzy@lemmy.today
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    “I don’t care about Palestine,” says the comfortable billionaire. He doesn’t mean he doesn’t care about the issue. He’s just OK with genocide as a final solution, like the vast majority of Israel.

    “I don’t preach about [the war]. I have my personal feelings about it that I discuss privately. It’s not part of what I can do comedically, but my feelings are very strong.”

    His feelings:

    Jerry Seinfeld

      • RFKJrsBrainworm@sh.itjust.works
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        As gross as this is, and clearly a 17 year old is not an adult by any real standard, but depending on the state it was legal. Just fucking gross and wrong immortal and he should be shamed into Oblivion for doing it.

        • MisterFrog@lemmy.world
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          5 days ago

          This is the real answer. Really, really gross, just not necessarily illegal.

          Age of consent varies. Example in Victoria Australia is it’s within 2 years until 16, anyone from 16 as long as they’re not your teacher or someone else with authority, and then 18 anyone older than 16.

          Prevents stupid shit like I’ve heard from the US where an 18 year old gets booked because the parents don’t like that their 17 year old is having sex…

          Don’t look up the age of consent in China, they’ve really dropped the ball on that one 👀

        • mic_check_one_two@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          That’s why statutory rape is a thing. It can legally be rape even if the victim doesn’t object, because the victim was not legally capable of consenting. Children who have been groomed often believe that the sex was consensual, but they were legally incapable of consenting.

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              Because the question is inherently flawed; With statutory rape, it doesn’t matter what the victim claims. The victim can claim it was consensual, but it’s still rape.

              • murvel@feddit.nu
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                The question was simple, and the answer was no. And what a waste of time otherwise

                • nanoswarm9k@lemmus.org
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                  Let me clairify. The issue is question of how much experience someone needs to be able to make an INFORMED conscent choice with someone who has the Privledge of more time. It’s easy to lie to the young.

                  If you don’t care about informed consent, no one cares about you, so you needn’t bother replying.

    • redsand@lemmy.dbzer0.comBanned from community
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      9 days ago

      Yeah the one who claims to be a comedian on his taxes but I literally cannot find a video of him doing a set that makes humans laugh.

    • Taldan@lemmy.world
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      Telling people they’re antisemitic for being against the genocide of Gazan civilians doesn’t convince them they’re antisemitic. It just makes them question how many other people have been falsely labeled antisemitic

      The atrocities being committed against civilians are horrible. This is 100% a genocide, and the IDF is hoping they can finish the job before someone steps in and stops them

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      9 days ago

      Agreed. So Hamas needs to surrender or be eliminated.
      What Israel is doing with blocking humanitarian aid and having seemingly zero care about civilian casualties is abhorrent. But this only ends with the complete destruction of Hamas.

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        Silent part of this abhorrent argument is that as long as at least one Palestinian live, there is no certainty that Hamas was completly destroyed.

        • CannonFodder@lemmy.world
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          No. They could lay down arms, stop firing rockets at Israel, and return hostages. How hard is that to grasp?

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              Weasel out of what? I’ve alsready condemned what Israel is doing. Just as I condemn what Hamas is doing. You?

                • CannonFodder@lemmy.world
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                  Yes, indirectly. Whenever any blame is put on Hamas it gets a barrage of deflection attacking Israeli actions. Some people even outright support Hamas and cite Israel’s actions.

          • eclipse@lemmy.world
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            9 days ago

            Have you considered that killing people’s children (directly or indirectly through forces like starvation, lack of medical care, etc.) might be one of the best recruitment motivators for Hamas?

            • CannonFodder@lemmy.world
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              Yeah, it’s probably not great for Israel long term. But Hamas will never allow peace while Israel exists. Kinda fucked up all around.

              • kreskin@lemmy.world
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                Yeah, it’s probably not great for Israel long term.

                “Not great” you say?

                Israel may end up nuked. It seems inevitable at this point. And its like zionists couldnt care less about the danger they put themselves and the rest of the world in.

          • kreskin@lemmy.world
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            And Israel could have ended this on October 8 by releasing the thousands Palestinian hostages they were holding without charges, without trial, in prisons treat viciously. Thats what Hamas asked for and why. Hamas took hostages to trade back their people with.
            Israel wanted to keep holding people without charge and have a reason to bomb and steal from civilians more than they wanted their own hostages back.

            • CannonFodder@lemmy.world
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              That’s one of the things they asked for. They also demand the elimination of the state of Israel and vowed for there never to be peace until that happened.

              • hark@lemmy.world
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                Why shouldn’t the genocidal apartheid ethnostate known as israel be eliminated the same way nazi germany was?

                • CannonFodder@lemmy.world
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                  Note that Germany wasn’t eliminated. In fact it’s as strong and as large as ever. It was just the government that changed. Yes - I think the right wing Israeli government should be kicked out, either by democracy or external pressure. But that won’t be the end of Israel.

              • kreskin@lemmy.world
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                If I had a shekel for every nonsensical argument Israel frames as “elimination of the state of israel” or “kill us all” or “drive us into the sea”, I’d be a rich person.

                Hamas did not demand the elimination of the state of Israel. You’re just making stuff up.

                This is why peace negotiations with zionists are so hopeless. You lie about whats going on because you never wanted peace, you just want to not be seen as murderers and thieves. Look at the polls, thats not working. Even in the US. You need to stop digging the hole you are standing in and start being honest here.

                • CannonFodder@lemmy.world
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                  It’s in Hamas’ charter. It’s what they chant. I know you don’t want believe that narrative (me neither), but that doesn’t make it less so.
                  I’m not an Israeli or a Jew or affiliated to any degree except I have some Jewish friends - some who live or who have lived in Israel, just as I have some Palestinian friends. Palestinians that I’ve talked to who are out of the control of Hamas say that Hamas is pure evil. Such Palestinians don’t support the killing of civilians in Gaza any more that I do and they see Israel’s latest policies as abhorrent, as do I. Of course most of them got out of that area of the world when they had a chance because they recognize that there’s too many stubborn assholes on both sides that will never accept any feasible peace despite the incredible harm such a position does.

          • michaelmrose@lemmy.world
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            9 days ago

            Militants are on the order of 1 in 40 people in Gaza. Even if they should lay down their arms Israel should still push them off their lands and kill them to make way for illegal settlers as they have been doing

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        So, with Israel incapable of eliminating Hamas without eliminating Palestinians, I take it you’re in favour of genocide, then?

          • FishFace@lemmy.world
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            It’s the reasonable consequence of what you’re saying. Israel’s war is genocidal - we can all see that, from the absurd number of civilian deaths, to the use of starvation as an indiscriminate weapon, to the statements about mass population removals. Even if you purposefully ignore that reality, only the willfully stupid can deny that Israel’s war is in flagrant breach of the principles of proportionality and discrimination between combatants and non-combatants.

            So we start from a position where Israel is committing horrifying war crimes and murdering children every single day in extremely cruel ways.

            It is also completely evident that it is impossible to eliminate Hamas. Just like it was impossible to eliminate the Taliban, or Al-Qaida, you can’t destroy a resistance movement by force. You can prevent (some) terrorist attacks committed by those movements by force, but all attempts at destruction result in new recruits, unless you destroy the entire population among which the resistance exists.

            So you are saying that “this only ends with the complete destruction of Hamas” which is only possible by the complete destruction of the Palestinian people. You only make demands of Hamas, not of Israel, even though Israel is perpetrating crimes against humanity every single day and has killed orders of magnitude more Palestinian civilians in this war than Hamas did in the instigating event (never mind before 2023). That favours their genocide.

            • CannonFodder@lemmy.world
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              Well written. And I do call for Israel to stop its wonton disregard for civilian safety and their embargo on aid - not that my voice means much. I do avoid the g word because it’s not well defined and I don’t think it’s useful. I agree that Hamas cannot be completely destroyed - but I think the Israeli perspective is that it can be meaningfully reduced so as to provide some period of peace (for Israelis). As unacceptable as it is, their response to the Oct attack will likely dissuade further such actions for a while.

      • kurwa@lemmy.world
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        9 days ago

        Was Hamas around 70 years ago? Why did they kill Palestinians before Hamas was even created you fucking donkey

      • Auli@lemmy.ca
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        9 days ago

        And all this does is continue the cycle. You think these kids are going to grow up and not hat Israel?

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          Most people in Israel already wear funny little hats ;-)
          But seriously, no I don’t think it will work. But it will possibly buy a significant delay. It might help long term if Israel then made huge overtures to improve the quality of life for people in Gaza, to lay out a fair path to dual state solution and stopped pushing settlements (and backed out of many). But of course we know that won’t happen, and even if it did, radicals (on both sides would do their best to scuttle the progress)

        • CannonFodder@lemmy.world
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          And maybe Israel shouldn’t have funded the potable water systems in Gaza since they were used to make rockets. Things get fucked up in unpredictable ways. Hindsight is 20/20.

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        Murdering tens of thousands of kids women and non-coms creates millions of people like Hamas. You wouldnt run out of hamas to kill because you are making 10 for every one you kill. Your thinking ends with either the genocide of the Arab world or the Israeli one.

        You can end a war by killing an army but you cannot murder an idea or a movement in the same way.

        How can you not see peace has to come from different thinking?

        • kreskin@lemmy.world
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          How can you not see peace has to come from different thinking?

          They dont want peace. They want land, and they dont consider humans who arent jews to be eligible for basic human rights. Its in the basic laws of their constitution. Its literally what makes Israel “israel”. Racism and supremacy codified into law.

        • CannonFodder@lemmy.world
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          Certainly. But Hamas also has stated unequivocally that it will never allow peace while Israel exists. What can Isreal ever do to get peace?

            • CannonFodder@lemmy.world
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              If it were my choice I’d have everyone lay down their arms immediately and work toward a long term peaceful solution which respect all parties and fairly shares the land. I’d do anything to bring peace and save Palestinian children. But back in the pragmatic world, I can see that Israel isn’t planning on stopping its actions as there’s no incentive (except morals, which don’t seem to matter to them). I dont understand why Hamas doesn’t surrender as continuing gives them nothing, and it enables the continued bloodshed of the civilians in Gaza. I think if global messaging focused more on calling for Hamas to surrender, we might actually get somewhere.

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        If there is one thing we’ve learned over the past 25 years, it’s that there is no such thing as the destruction of a terrorist organization

        The more civilians you murder, the more new recruits that terror cell has in their family members

        The IDF if fully aware of this. They know they can’t wipe out Hamas. They’re looking to wipe out all Gazans

        • CannonFodder@lemmy.world
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          IRA , Tamil Tigers, That Spanish basque group (eta?). Going further back, the weather underground in the U.S. it’s a mixed bag of negotiations and military/police defeat.

  • LogicalDrivel@sopuli.xyz
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    “Just say you don’t like Jews.”
    Yeah that makes total sense. Obviously, if I feel like a group of people deserve to not be genocided, that means I don’t like Jews. So “liking Jews” = You must want to destroy another culture.

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    i don’t know if anyone worked as hard as Jerry Seinfeld to ruin his own reputation insistently for so long.

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      I mean, he’s doing a great job of it, but there are a lot of other sensational examples

      Musk, Russel Brand, Kanye, Gervais, Rogan, Rowling, Dilbert guy…

      You could argue none of them were as big a self inflicted fall I guess, but they were all, at times, thought of in pretty high esteem by a lot of of people, and then, well, you know.

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          Been a while since I’ve heard about him tbf, but IIRC he jumped on the whole “can’t do comedy anymore because they’ll cancel you” shtick when getting criticised for transphobic jokes/remarks.

          I guess his is less offensive and more lazy. Just started rambling like an old man about cancel culture and comedy dying and hisow comedians “speak secret truths” instead of realising that the material wasn’t funny and was offensive and working on improving that.

          He’s definitely the weakest example from the list, I’d put him in the same vein as Chapelle actually.

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            He strikes me as the one genuine example of doing edgy jokes because he actually likes edgy jokes.

        • pyre@lemmy.world
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          exposes that Stephen Merchant was the funny guy all along.

          more directly, he leans into the “legalize comedy” stuff basically, pretends that he’s too edgy and people constantly want to cancel him. when in reality he’s just doing transphobic hack comedy. he’s just generally super cringe.

          my favorite thing about him is James Acaster mocking the shit out of him on one of his shows.

          https://youtu.be/UHqma3rx-xI?t=154s

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      I don’t think this even dents it compared to his “what’s the deal with high school girls” thing.

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    Exactly what I’d expect from the billionaire leech class.

    I wonder what he thinks about a thirty-eight year old man dating a seventeen year old? Oh wait we know already.

    Dude’s been fuckin’ gross for years, nobody should take moral advice from this pedo.

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    This reminds me of Norm McDonald’s bit, “People say the worst thing about the whole Bill Cosby thing is the hypocrisy. I disagree, I thought it was the raping that was the worst” apologies for butchering it, but I think it’s very relevant, considering it was on an episode of comedians in cars with Jerry

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      That show (not specifically the Norm episode) made me realise how ugly Jerry Seinfeld’s personality was. He was just not nice. Extremely materialistic. Not naturally charming or funny. Messed up value system.

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      It reminded me of another Norm line.

      “Who’s funnier than Jerry Seinfeld?”

      He’s right up there with Nick Schwartzen and Amy Schumer.

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    It’s amazing these people still think that all Jewish people agree with them. Or do they think a huge part of the global Jewish population just became “self-hating” or whatever term they’d use overnight?

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      Jewish voices are deeply involved in Palestinian solidarity movements across the world and at almost every level, so statements like this are just fucking insane.

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    Jerry Seinfeld’s entire public profile can be attributed to Larry David. If it weren’t for him, he’d just be another mediocre Leno-esque standup. Nobody would remember him because he sucks.

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      I’ve long been of the opinion that part of the reason Larry David cast him was because he was so mediocre. None of the characters in that show are sympathetic.