Jerry Seinfeld’s week of difficult appearances continues, this time in Virginia.
As soon as Seinfeld took the stage for a stand-up comedy set at Chrysler Hall in Norfolk on Saturday night, a man in the audience jumped up and yelled, “Free Gaza,” TMZ reported. The audience immediately began booing the heckler and chanting “Jerry! Jerry!” as another bystander wrestled the protester into a headlock.
Security escorted the man out of the building, but the show was interrupted by other protesters eight times throughout its 90-minute run.
The controversy around Seinfeld’s views stems from his vocal support of Israel — which he visited following the Oct. 7 attacks — and his wife’s $5,000 donation to a GoFundMe for pro-Israel counterprotesters at UCLA after a late April protest turned violent.
Seinfeld didn’t seem bothered by the interruptions, telling the crowd not to boo the man because he had a right to protest.
“This is exciting. I like this,” the comic said as the original protester was escorted out of the venue. “I like a little Jew hate to spice up the show.”
You scrolled past somebody stating in this very thread that they don’t recognize the right of Israel to exist.
You could have spent a single minute of your day pushing against the ridiculousness of that statement. Instead, you scrolled down and decided to push back on something less ridiculous.
They both deserved push back, but you only chose to push back against the side you aren’t on.
Why is it my personal job to challenge every statement?
You are one of the most active users on the site who spends probably more time than anybody challenging Israel supporters.
But challenging the side you are on when they say clearly abhorrent things?.. Slim pickings.
That doesn’t explain why it’s my job. Unless you’re going to pay me to do otherwise, I think I’ll continue to reply to who I want to reply to.
If it isn’t your job to somehow find a way to speak out against the most milquetoast barely pro-Israel comments made on Lemmy, it’s certainly at least your hobby.
I just think you could put 1% of your time here towards speaking out against the comments you see that are wrong when they come from your side.
But, partisanism is like a drug.
Shall I go through your comment history to see what you’ve been unevenly commenting on? Because I’m willing to. I’m guessing I’ll find quite the treasure trove.
Go ahead. I’m mostly on your side of the conflict. Largely because of the work you have put in here. You are respected here and have changed minds.
I just think if arguing against pro-Israel people the second they step out of line is going to be your hobby, you should be doing the same when you see it coming from your own side.
Whereas I think declaring something to be my hobby when it isn’t that at all is exceedingly rude. So I don’t think I’ll take the advice of someone who is being exceedingly rude to me.
If you want to pretend the person who gave you credit for changing their mind is being rude to you, that’s fine.
Frankly, no nation has an inherent right to exist, and that includes Israel. A nation is only legitimate as long as it looks after the interests and liberties of its people. All its people. At the end of the day, I don’t give a flying fuck at a rolling donut if Israel exists, Palestine exists, or some combination of the two, or neither. What I care about is that the people who live there have long, happy, free, and peaceful lives, and right now Israel seems to be the biggest obstacle to that, what with the genocide and all.
There’s nothing remotely ridiculous about saying that an apartheid ethnostate does not have a right to exist.