Jerry Seinfeld Compares “Free Palestine” Movement to the KKK

First Unfrosted, now this.

Jerry Seinfeld made some rather inflammatory comments about the Israel-Gaza war on Tuesday.

Appearing at a Duke University event, the legendary comedian compared the Free Palestine to the Ku Klux Klan, while suggesting the Palestine supporters were somehow worse than the notoriously evil white supremacist group.

“Free Palestine is, to me, just — you’re free to say you don’t like Jews,” Seinfeld said, according to The Chronicle, Duke University’s student newspaper, which reported on Seinfeld’s appearance Tuesday night. “Just say you don’t like Jews. By saying ‘Free Palestine,’ you’re not admitting what you really think. So it’s actually — compared to the Ku Klux Klan, I’m actually thinking the Klan is actually a little better here because they can come right out and say, ‘We don’t like Blacks, we don’t like Jews.’ OK that’s honest.”

The event featured Seinfeld appearing along with Omer Shem Tov, an Israeli who was abducted by Hamas at the Oct. 7 Nova music festival and was held captive for 505 days. Seinfeld also detailed his trip to Tel Aviv to meet with families of hostages in what he called an effort to draw more attention to their plight.

The Chronicle quoted a University spokesperson who noted, “Duke does not preview the remarks of speakers who are invited to campus, and the invitation of speakers to campus does not imply any endorsement of their remarks.”

A representative for Seinfeld declined to comment. The Hollywood Reporter also reached out to two of the Duke groups behind the event but has not yet heard back.

Seinfeld has repeatedly voiced his support of Israel during the conflict, though has typically spoken in a far more cautious fashion. During the publicity tour for his Netflix movie Unfrosted, he told GQ last year, “I don’t preach about [the conflict]. I have my personal feelings about it that I discuss privately. It’s not part of what I can do comedically, but my feelings are very strong.”

Also last year, during a comedy show in Sydney, Australia, Seinfeld was heckled by a pro-Palestinian protester who accused him of being a “genocide supporter.” Seinfeld sarcastically replied, “We have a genius, ladies and gentlemen. He’s solved the Middle East. He’s solved it! It’s the Jewish comedians, that’s who we have to get.”

Then in February, at an event commemorating Saturday Night Live’s 50th anniversary, an influencer tried to get the comedian to say “Free Palestine” while taking a selfie. Seinfeld replied: “I don’t care about Palestine.”