Julia Louis-Dreyfus thinks political correctness is “fantastic”. This strongly contradicts her sitcom colleague Jerry Seinfeld.
Jerry Seinfeld’s claim that political correctness is ruining comedy has been met with opposition from his own “Seinfeld” camp. Julia Louis-Dreyfus (61), who played alongside the title character in the cult sitcom, contradicts her former series colleague in an interview with the “New York Times”.
Unlike Jerry Seinfeld, Julia Louis-Dreyfus finds political correctness “fantastic” – insofar as it “equates to tolerance,” she said. And she continued: “Of course, I reserve the right to boo anyone who says something that offends me, while also respecting their right to free speech.”
For Julia Louis-Dreyfus, having an “antenna for sensitivities” is “not a bad thing.” Unlike her “Seinfeld” co-star, she does not believe that comedy is finished with it. She takes a swipe at him. “When I hear people complaining about political correctness – and I understand why people object to it – that’s a warning sign for me, because sometimes it means something else,” she said. She left it open what exactly it is a warning sign for.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus sees art threatened from another side
But Louis-Dreyfus doesn’t want to say whether comedy or art itself has become better through increased sensitivity. “All I know is that the lens through which we create art today – and I won’t limit it to comedy, it’s also drama – is a different lens.”
For the comedian, a bigger problem for art than political correctness is the “concentration of money and power”. “I don’t think all this market concentration of studios, distribution channels, streamers and distributors is good for the creative voice,” she told the New York Times.
The reason for Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ comment was a statement by Jerry Seinfeld in a podcast for the “New Yorker” in April 2024. In it, he blamed the “extreme left and PC crap and people who are so concerned about offending other people” for an alleged decline in comedy. Seinfeld has since gone on to say that he also misses a “consensual hierarchy” and a “dominant masculinity” in the culture.
Source: Stern
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
