In a recent interview, Jerry Seinfeld was asked about diversity in his web based comedy series After saying that “this really pisses” him off, he goes into an explanation of how he, essentially, is color- and gender-blind when deciding what is and is not funny.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsEr6xNN8Hw].
“People think it’s the census or something, it’s gotta represent the actual pie chart of America,” says Seinfeld. He dismisses the idea of trying to find the exact right mix of people, calling it “PC nonsense”.
At Gawker, these comments were “translated” using the classic liberal tool, the “what do they REALLY mean” device.
“He seems to suggest that any comedian who is not a white male is also not funny, though he’s also likely fed up with the amount of bad comedy he’s been forced to sit through in his (waning) career.”
Really? How does he “seem” to do that? Is it by him saying that gender and race don’t matter to what is funny? Is it by saying that finding the right mix isn’t the same thing as finding what is funny?
Saying that one chooses what is funny irrespective of race or gender in no way implies that only one race or gender is funny. In fact, it means exactly the opposite. Seinfeld is literally saying he doesn’t care if you are a white male. Gawker translates that to mean that he SUPER cares if you are a white male.
In typical sneering smart-ass liberal “I’m better than you” fashion the Gawker moron then lists some of the comedians who are not white or male that are in Seinfeld’s comedy series, and writes “In conclusion: Yes, comedy should represent the entire pie chart of America, and the glorious, multicolored diversity pie should be thrown directly at Jerry Seinfeld’s face.”
Which is of course, stupid. It is so blindingly stupid, in fact, that it is difficult to sit here and break it down in words. It’s like trying to explain how to breathe. You just .. breathe. When you’re putting together a bunch of funny people, you just … choose funny people. Who cares what race or gender they are? It has literally no bearing.
Saying “comedy should represent the entire pie chart” is a meaningless statement anyway. We’re talking about a specific subset of comedy, that being Jerry Seinfeld’s Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. How far should we break this down? “Three comedians walk into a bar .. ” Hold on, now. How many of them are white? What about a one man show? Are only transgendered, multi-racial comedians permitted to do those, so as to make sure the pie chart is “represented”?
The Gawker idiot says “Jerry Seinfeld, the most successful comedian in the world and maker of comedy for and about white people, isn’t interested in trying to include non-white anything in his work.” This is not only not what Seinfeld said, it’s completely belied by the Gawker writer himself in the same exact column where he wrote it. Remember the list he sneeringly listed?
And not for nothing, but I didn’t see Seinfeld invited to The Original Kings of Comedy or The Original Latin Kings of Comedy. Did you?
Gawker has long set a high bar for stupid. But somehow, this particular Gawker idiot manages to clear it, riding high on a rainbow-colored shark. Impressive.