Jerry Seinfeld Apologizes For “Sexual Undertones” In ‘Bee Movie’ During Duke Commencement Address: “But I Would Not Change It”

Armando Tinoco
·2 min read
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Despite many walking out on Jerry Seinfeld’s Duke Commencement Address, the stand-up comedian still delivered his speech and apologized for the “sexual undertones” in Bee Movie.

“I made a cartoon movie about bees you may have watched as a child,” he said. “If any of you felt slightly uncomfortable about the sexual undertones in the relationship between Barry the bee and Vanessa, the florist who saves his life, I would like to apologize for that now.”

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Seinfeld continued, “I may not have calibrated that perfectly, but I would not change it.”

RELATED: Jerry Seinfeld Sees Dozens Walk Out On His Duke Commencement Speech

The comedian referred to the 2007 animated film to make a bigger point about not losing your sense of humor as life gets tough.

“The slightly uncomfortable feeling of awkward humor is OK,” he said. “It’s not something you need to fix.”

Although Seinfeld admires the current generation for their “ambitions to create a more just and inclusive society” and for not wanting to hurt other people’s feelings, he advised the graduating class not to lose their sense of humor.

“Not a lot of life makes sense for you to be able to survive it without humor,” he added.

In 2021, Seinfeld addressed the sexual undertones the DreamWorks Animation film had during an appearance on The Tonight Show.

“I apologize for what seems to be a certain uncomfortable subtle sexual aspect of the Bee Movie,” he said. “[It] really was not intentional, but after it came out, I realized this is really not appropriate for children. Because the bee seems to have a thing for the girl, and we don’t really want to pursue that as an idea in children’s entertainment.”

Watch Seinfeld’s full speech in the video above.

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