After Jerry Seinfeld complained about political correctness’s impact on comedy, Julia Louis-Dreyfus took a different stance during her recent interview with the New York Times. When asked about Seinfeld’s comments and her own thoughts on the matter, Louis-Dreyfus said, “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. 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.†In a follow-up interview 11 days later, the actress elaborated further on the subject, saying, “My feeling about all of it is that political correctness, insofar as it equates to tolerance, is obviously fantastic. 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?†Instead, she continued, the true threat to creative voice in her opinion is the “consolidation of money and power†in Hollywood.
Her comments come after her Seinfeld co-star, the titular Seinfeld himself, complained that “the extreme left and PC crap†has made it so there are no longer any comedies to watch on television anymore. Though it sounds like he might have just lost his remote? Known for his edgy Grape Nuts humor, Seinfeld lamented that he wouldn’t be able to get certain Seinfeld jokes on the air today, despite the fact that they quite literally are on the air today, thriving in syndication. As the funnier and edgier Seinfeld alum, Louis-Dreyfus (after seven seasons of Veep) seems far more qualified to talk about political correctness in comedy than the man behind the Pop-Tarts movie.