Jerry Seinfeld's Duke 2024 Address Raises Tensions Through His Presence, Not His Speech

Jerry Seinfeld's Address at Duke University's 2024 Commencement Ceremony caused a stir at the event as numerous students walked out in protest to his presence, shouting slogans about freeing Palestine. While Seinfeld's speech may have been mostly apolitical, his stance on the Israel-Palestine conflict is anything but.

In Seinfeld's almost 17 minute address, he goes over three points which he considers to be his "three real keys to life."

Working hard, and his disappointment with how A.I. is taking over. Paying attention, where he brings up the incident where a submarine driven by a Logitech controller sank and led to the deaths of five people. Falling in love, though specifically with small, mundane parts of life as opposed to people.

Outside of these three points, the rest of the speech was littered with jokes and references. He even brought up the bee movie and apologised to those who may have watched it and felt uncomfortable with the sexual tension between the protagonist, a literal bee, and the female lead of the film.

There were a few instances, however, where Seinfeld's speech could be interpreted with certain undertones.

After discussing the three points, he touched on privilege, defending it by saying, "I say, use your privilege! I grew up a Jewish boy from New York. That is a privilege if you want to be a comedian."

This comment is the closest he came to references anything related to his Jewish background and opinions on the war. Most likely, it is just a reference to the fact that back in the 1970s, according to a Time Magazine article, 80% of the comedians in America at the time were Jewish.

Other sore points for listeners to his speech may have been his idea on humour and how one should be able to joke while being undeterred by the reactions of those around them. Or those that are unsure and insecure are luckier than those that feel like they know their plan in life. Both of these comments could be interpreted as subtle jabs at the students who walked out of the ceremony before his speech.

Or they could simply be his personal views on life.

Many online came to Seinfeld's defence, praising him for this wit during the oration.

This is the problem with the media. The focus on a small handful of students walking out on Jerry Seinfeld’s speech has completely obscured any coverage of the actual speech, which is excellent, completely apolitical, and full of gems all young people need to hear.

Here it is in… pic.twitter.com/sgag2aQEHJ

— Ali A. Rizvi (@aliamjadrizvi) May 12, 2024

Jerry Seinfeld’s speech at Duke University was announced and it was immediately drowned out by “free Palestine” chants.

Newsflash: Just because someone is Jewish doesn’t mean they are against peaceful Palestinians.

Stop being ignorant to the point of hateful bigotry. It just… pic.twitter.com/bzryEv95Pg

— Brian Krassenstein (@krassenstein) May 12, 2024

Congratulations to Jerry Seinfeld on a truly impactful speech for the Duke graduates. He put a tight frame around the need for a sense of humor as we grow. Remember that angels fly because they take themselves lightly.

Kudos my friend on a job… done.@JerrySeinfeld #Seinfeld

— John OHurley ☘️🐕☘️ (@ImJohnOHurley) May 13, 2024

But a substantial number of people also took this opportunity to show their distaste for his presence as the commencement guest and their reasons for it.

Amazing job at Duke university

student walkout at Duke university commencement as Jerry Seinfeld’s speech is announced. his introduction by university president is being drowned out by “free free Palestine” chants pic.twitter.com/ou0XXHAJft

— Gaza Under Attack_🇵🇸 (@Palestine001_) May 12, 2024

The anti-Zionists (NOT anti-Semites) boo’d Uber Zionist Jerry Seinfeld 🥰🇵🇸 at his Duke University commencement speech pic.twitter.com/ZJeJBuC3uj

— Rabbi Linda Goldstein (🇵🇸🍉I/P Commentary) (@realrabbilinda) May 12, 2024

This is who Duke university chose to pick for their commencement speech. Seinfeld, genocide cheerleader. Students didnt walk out because he is Jewish. They walked out because he donated to the pro israel protesters who try to murder their fellow students. #boycottSeinfeld pic.twitter.com/Noh9qChA0r

— Rachida Benamar🐝 (@ramapublishing) May 13, 2024

While his speech itself was relatively apolitical, his actions outside it were far from it.

He has shown his support for Israel on instagram, recalling his days of youth working on a Kibbutz in Israel.

"I will always stand with Israel and the Jewish people." he said in the instagram post.

There is also the time when he was interviewed by Graham Bensinger, where he recalled his time in Tel Aviv where he witnessed a missile strike and had to take shelter from the falling debris.

Jessica Seinfeld, Jerry Seinfeld's wife, also recently made a $5,000 donation to a Pro-Israel counterprotest. She also recently made a statement on her instagram, claiming that peaceful counterprotest to which she donated to, and the acts of violence committed by Pro-Israel counterprotests, happened on two different days and were not connected.

Still, the donation solidified her stance, as well as the stance of her husband.

It doesn't matter what kind of speech Jerry Seinfeld wrote. His presence at the commencement ceremony during the rise of Pro-Israel Protests across campuses, the violence against protesters at UCLA, and his general support towards Israel meant that the protest towards his appearance was inevitable.