Why some Duke grads walked out on Jerry Seinfeld’s commencement speech

Ongoing tension on college campuses over the Israel-Hamas war has reached Jerry Seinfeld.

The Jewish stand-up comedian, who has been a vocal supporter of Israel, gave a commencement speech at Duke University on Sunday. Before Seinfeld gave his address, a group of pro-Palestinian graduates erupted in protest.

The students chanted “Free, free Palestine,” according to The New York Times. Dozens of students and some audience members walked out as Seinfeld prepared to give his address.

Students held Palestine flags and posters as they made their exit, the Times reported.

Duke is one of dozens of universities across the United States seeing pro-Palestine protests on campus, from UC Berkley to Columbia University to the University of Utah.

‘Do not lose your sense of humor’: Seinfeld addresses Duke grads

As protesters continued filing out, Seinfeld approached the lectern. Draped in a Duke doctorate gown, he addressed the remaining crowd without commenting on the protest.

“I grew up a Jewish boy from New York,” he said, according to a video shared on Duke’s YouTube page. “That is a privilege if you want to be a comedian.”

He continued: “I am going to try and reach across a couple generations here to tell you the most important thing I am confident that I know about life. ... The slightly uncomfortable feeling of awkward humor is OK. It’s not something you need to fix.

“I totally admire the ambitions of your generation to create a more just and inclusive society. I think it is also wonderful that you care so much about not hurting other people’s feelings and the million and one ways we all do that every second of every day. It’s lovely to want to do that but, all caps, BUT, what I need to tell you as a comedian: do not lose your sense of humor.”

“Not enough of life makes sense for you to survive it without humor,” he added. “It is worth an occasional discomfort to have some laughs. Don’t lose that. Even if it’s at the cost of occasional hard feelings, it’s OK. You got to laugh.”

For the majority of his comedy career, Seinfeld kept things light. He has refrained from political commentary and clung to jokes about Pop-Tarts and other frivolous topics.

But in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, Seinfeld posted, “I stand with Israel” on his Instagram.

“I lived and worked on a Kibbutz in Israel when I was 16 and I have loved our Jewish homeland ever since,” he wrote in the post. “My heart is breaking from these attacks and atrocities.But we are also a very strong people in our hearts and minds. ... I will always stand with Israel and the Jewish people.”

Seinfeld has been publicly harassed for his beliefs — protesters called him a “genocide supporter” on the streets of New York City, per The New York Times — but he remains a supporter of Israel and outspoken critic of antisemitism.

At the end of 2023, Seinfeld and his family visited Israel because they “feel very close to the struggle of being Jewish in the world,” he said in an interview with Graham Bensinger.

“The struggle of being Jewish is also ancient, thousands of years of struggle and Israel is the latest one. And anti-semitism seems to be rekindling in some areas. So we just felt we wanted to do that to be supportive of the Israelis,” he said.

Seinfeld’s ongoing anti-woke commentary

Seinfeld has also talked about politics while promoting his new movie, “Unfrosted.”

During an appearance on The New Yorker Radio Hour, Seinfeld said woke culture is pushing audiences toward stand-up comedy because stand-up is “not policed by anyone.”

“It used to be you would go home at the end of the day, most people would go, ‘Oh, ‘Cheers’ is on. Oh, ‘M*A*S*H’ is on. Oh, ‘Mary Tyler Moore’ is on. ‘All in the Family’ is on.’ You just expected there’ll be some funny stuff we can watch on TV tonight.”

He continued: “This is the result of the extreme left and PC (politically correct) crap, and people worrying so much about offending other people.”

In an earlier interview with GQ, Seinfeld declared: “The movie business is over.”

According to the comedian, “Film doesn’t occupy the pinnacle in the social, cultural hierarchy that it did for most of our lives.”

“When a movie came out, if it was good, we all went to see it. We all discussed it. We quoted lines and scenes we liked. Now we’re walking through a fire hose of water, just trying to see.”

He suggested that perhaps “depression,” “malaise” or “confusion” replaced the hole left by the movie industry. “Everyone I know in show business, every day, is going, ‘What’s going on? How do you do this? What are we supposed to do now?’”