Jerry Seinfeld Angered By Buzzfeed Racial Diversity Question


Jerry Seinfeld became both visibly and verbally agitated during a BuzzFeed Brews interview when editor Peter Lauria questioned the comedian about all the “white males” in a new web series. Seinfeld was seemingly chastised for not showcasing more racial diversity in his Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee online show.

When BuzzFeed’s Peter Lauria asked Jerry Seinfeld why he hosted so many white males on the show, the comedian sarcastically said, “Yeah, let’s get into that. Take a look over here, Peter. [Points to live audience] What do you see? A lot of whiteys. Oh, this really p****s me off. But go ahead.”

Seinfeld went on to explain why neither race or gender holds any interest f or him when it comes to comedy. He also touched upon comments he made about female comedians during an interview with Tina Fey briefly. “People think it’s the census or something, it’s gotta represent the actual pie chart of America. Who care? Funny is the world I live in. You’re funny, I’m interested. You’re not funny, I’m not interested,” Seinfeld added.

The television star also expanded on his thoughts about race and gender having no place in comedic decisions during the BuzzFeed Brews interview. Jerry Seinfeld said that factoring in such things feels like nothing more than politically correct non-sense to him. “But everyone else is kind of, with their calculating … is this the exact right mix? I think that’s … to me, it’s anti-comedy,” he stated.

The comedian’s unwillingness to adapt his web series and guest decisions based upon some type of arbitrary gender and race balance angered some self-proclaimed liberals. Social media platforms came alive with heated debate about the Seinfeld BuzzFeed interview. A Gawker website review of the interview claimed that Jerry Seinfled was playing down the comedic talents of Bill Cosby, Richard Pryor, Mindy Kaling, Eddie Huan, and Aziz Ansari. The critique does not seem to coincide with Seinfeld’s statements, those folks are all funny, therefore the comedian would surely have been interested in them and welcomed them all onto his show.

An excerpt from Gawker reads:

“Yes, comedy should represent the entire pie chart of America, and the glorious, multi-colored diversity pie should be thrown directly at Jerry Seinfeld’s face.”

Do we really need comedic quotas? Should Seinfeld perplex over the gender and race ratios and skip over a white, black, or Hispanic funny man and instead opt for a woman who, while humorous, does not garner the gut-busting chuckles of her male peers simply to satisfy the diversity police? Flip that race, gender scenario any which way you like, the answer should always be the same. The most qualified comic should always get the gig.

[Image Via: FeatureFlash/Shutterstock.com]

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