Julia Louis-Dreyfus has THOUGHTS on her old co-star’s take on political correctness.
In April, Jerry Seinfeld spoke to The New Yorker about how the “extreme left” and their “P.C. crap” is ruining modern comedy on TV. We WISH we were joking, but he went on a lengthy tangent about how you could get away with so much more in the ’90s than you can now in terms of the TV space — and how creatives are now bound because they worry “so much about offending other people.” The following month, he doubled down on his outdated ways during a podcast with Bari Weiss, saying he misses “dominant masculinity” in society. You can read all about that HERE.
Well, now a member of the Seinfeld cast is weighing in on his, er… opinions!
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During an interview with the New York Times published over the weekend, The New Adventures of Old Christine star was asked about Jerry’s comments regarding the “extreme left” and comedy. And she could not have disagreed with his stance more! She told the outlet:
“If you look back on comedy and drama both, let’s say 30 years ago, through the lens of today, you might find bits and pieces that don’t age well.”
Right. That doesn’t mean you couldn’t say anything irreverent anymore. There are lots of edgy shows now. It’s just that today’s edge is a different place. And plenty of stuff that wasn’t even considered “edgy” at the time still aged like sour milk. Take for instance the racist depiction of a foreign exchange student in Sixteen Candles — or even worse, when a white guy played a Chinese neighbor for laughs in Breakfast at Tiffany’s… Yeesh. It isn’t about policing comedy, it’s just paying attention to make sure you’re not bullying or just being racist or homophobic and calling it comedy. Unfortunately that’s a lot of old “comedy”. JLD put it very reasonably, saying:
“I think to have an antenna about sensitivities is not a bad thing. It doesn’t mean that all comedy goes out the window as a result.”
Exactly! She’s just talking about being RESPONSIBLE while you’re being edgy. And she should know — she was on one of the most caustic shows of the past few years in Veep. How did they get by without getting cancelled? They were always going after targets who deserved it — the selfish, the greedy, the blindly ambitious — and not just punching down at minorities. See the difference?
On comedians who “might push back” on having any limits? That always comes across as a sign of something worse to Julia:
“To me, that’s a red flag because it sometimes means something else.”
WHOA! Something else like they want to be racist, sexist, or homophobic and are annoyed they don’t get to be? Something else like they lack any sense of empathy themselves and don’t understand why some comments are OK and others aren’t? What is she implying about her old friend?? Damn! What a comment…
And she must have realized the possible consequences because she cut her comments short after that, concluding:
“I believe being aware of certain sensitivities is not a bad thing. I don’t know how else to say it.”
Julia must have been particularly worried because days after the interview was conducted, she reached back out to the outlet to add even more thoughts, clarifying:
“I wanted to make sure that I answered this whole idea of political correctness correctly, and I can’t really remember what I said. So I wanted to go back to that and be very clear about where I stand. My feeling about all of it is that political correctness, insofar as it equates to tolerance, is obviously fantastic. And of course I reserve the right to boo anyone who says anything that offends me, while also respecting their right to free speech, right?”
The Thunderbolts star added the biggest “threat to art” is the “consolidation of money and power,” which affects the “creative voice.” Preach it, girl! She finished:
“I just know that the lens through which we create art today — and I’m not going to just specify it to comedy, it’s also drama — it’s a different lens. It really is. Even classically wonderful, indisputably great films from the past are riddled with attitudes that today would not be acceptable. So I think it’s just good to be vigilant.”
Again, just totally reasonable.
What are YOUR thoughts on her stance VS. Jerry’s, Perezcious readers?? Let us know in the comments down below!
[Images via The Free Press/Seinfeld/YouTube, & Avalon/WENN]
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