Not so fast, Jerry Seinfeld.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus pushed back on her former “Seinfeld” co-star’s recent criticism of political correctness and how it has affected comedy.
“This is the result of the extreme left, and PC crap, and people worrying so much about offending other people,” Seinfeld, 70, said in April to The New Yorker about the deterioration of TV comedy.
But Louis-Dreyfus, 63, disagreed with his take and said that political correctness is “fantastic.”
“If you look back on comedy and drama both, let’s say 30 years ago, through the lens of today, you might find bits and pieces that don’t age well,” she told the New York Times in an interview published Saturday.
“And I think to have an antenna about sensitivities is not a bad thing. It doesn’t mean that all comedy goes out the window as a result.”
The “Veep” star continued: “When I hear people starting to complain about political correctness — and I understand why people might push back on it — but to me that’s a red flag, because it sometimes means something else. I believe being aware of certain sensitivities is not a bad thing. I don’t know how else to say it.”
Louis-Dreyfus reiterated her stance on political correctness in a follow-up chat with the New York Times 11 days later.
“My feeling about all of it is that political correctness, insofar as it equates to tolerance, is obviously fantastic,” she said. “And of course I reserve the right to boo anyone who says anything that offends me, while also respecting their right to free speech, right?”
The Emmy Award winner also said that the “true threat to art and the creation of art” isn’t political correctness, but rather “the consolidation of money and power.”
She went on to say, “I just know that the lens through which we create art today — and I’m not going to just specify it to comedy, it’s also drama — it’s a different lens. Even classically wonderful, indisputably great films from the past are riddled with attitudes that today would not be acceptable. So I think it’s just good to be vigilant.”
Louis-Dreyfus never named Seinfeld while disagreeing with his opinions.
In April, Seinfeld made headlines for blaming “the extreme left and PC crap” for the reason that there aren’t as many beloved comedies on TV anymore.
He also noted that some jokes from “Seinfeld” wouldn’t be welcomed today.
“We did an episode of the series in the ’90s where Kramer decides to start a business of having homeless pull rickshaws because, as he says, they’re outside anyway,” he said. “Do you think I could get that episode on the air today?”
“We’d come up with another joke,” he added.
Louis-Dreyfus, who played Elaine Banes on “Seinfeld,” similarly looked back on the comedy series created by Seinfeld himself in her interview, and acknowledged that it could “probably not” be made today — but not because of any backlash.
“It was really unlike anything that was on at the time,” she said. “It was just a bunch of losers hanging out. So I would say one main reason it wouldn’t be made now is because it’s hard to get anything different recognized. Particularly nowadays, everyone’s sort of running scared.”
