Jerry Seinfeld has a message to millennials: You do not "know what the fuck you are talking about."
Speaking on ESPN’s The Herd with Colin Cowherd, Seinfeld discussed why he does not perform on college campuses, similar to Larry the Cable Guy and Chris Rock.
The reason? College students are too politically correct these days.
"I don’t play colleges, but I hear a lot of people tell me, ‘Don’t go near colleges. They’re so PC,’ Seinfeld said. "They just want to use these words: ‘That’s racist’; ‘That’s sexist’; ‘That’s prejudiced.’ They don’t know what the fuck they’re talking about."
Seinfeld’s social commentary did not end there, however. He appeared on Late Night with Seth Myers where the conversation continued on Tuesday.
"I could imagine a time where people would say that’s offensive to suggest that a gay person moves their hands in a flourishing notion, and you need to apologize," Seinfeld said. "There’s a creepy, PC thing out there that really bothers me."
CBS’s This Morning appeared supportive of Seinfeld’s claims, noting that his popular sitcom was known for avoiding vulgarity and offensive humor. He referred to criticism of a lack of diversity in his comedy as "PC-nonsense" that was anti-comedy.
Rock has made similar statements about college students being "way too conservative."
Not in their political views -- not like they’re voting Republican -- but in their social views and their willingness not to offend anybody. Kids raised on a culture of "We’re not going to keep score in the game because we don’t want anybody to lose." Or just ignoring race to a fault. You can’t say "the black kid over there." No, it’s "the guy with the red shoes." You can’t even be offensive on your way to being inoffensive.
It is not hard to see what Seinfeld and Rock are referring to. Last month, famed potty mouth Louis C.K. sparked uproar over an admittedly bizarre bit on SNL about pedophiles. Trevor Noah received backlash over "anti-Semitic" and "sexist" jokes on Twitter after he was announced as Jon Stewart’s successor.
"‘Oh, look how cultured and interesting I am. I’m angry!’" comedian Mark Norman said, mocking college students’ fake outrage. "No you’re not. You’re an idiot."
Despite complaints about Seinfeld’s comedy, Vladimir Duthiers pointed out the popularity among young people of the "edgy jokes" Key & Peele and Amy Schumer perform on their Comedy Central shows.
"I think Jerry Seinfeld's humor has always been very relatable," Gayle King said.