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Jerry Seinfeld issued a blunt response to an activist who urged him to show support for Palestine during a selfie request.
The comedian, 70, was asked for a photo by the influencer, known as Subway DJ, at Radio City Music Hall where Saturday Night Live was hosting a 50th-anniversary celebration.
Seinfeld, who has long been an outspoken supporter of Israel, happily posed for the photo – until Subway DJ brought up the Gaza conflict while secretly filming a video instead.
Subway DJ asked, “Jerry, can I get a selfie?” to which the comedy legend replied: “Sure!” and leaned in to pose for what he believed was a photo.
Instead of taking a photo, the influencer recorded a video and put up two fingers in a peace sign while saying: “Free Palestine.”
Seinfeld immediately appeared uncomfortable in the footage and, when asked to repeat the phrase, shook his head and said: “I don’t care about Palestine,” before walking away from the activist.
The clip has divided opinion online with some supporting Seinfeld, while other social media users were disappointed by the comedian’s dismissal of the topic.
“What kind of artist says something like that?” one person asked. “Empathy, humanisation and equal human rights should be in the root of what they do as a profession,” they claimed.
Meanwhile, another commenter replied: “We don’t care about Jerry.”
Others thought Subway DJ’s ambush was unfair. “The guy gives you a selfie and you pull some dumb move like that, come on man,” one person said.
“Don’t go asking him for a selfie just to say some dumb s***,” another user added. “Have some respect for him.”
Seinfeld has been an outspoken supporter of Israel since the outbreak of the Gaza conflict. The comedian visited Israel in December 2023 and met with the families of hostages.
After the conflict escalated, Seinfeld shared a statement on Instagram, saying: “ We believe in justice, freedom, and equality. We survive and flourish no matter what. I will always stand with Israel and the Jewish people.”
Last May, students walked out on Seinfeld at Duke University as he was about to deliver the commencement speech and his show in Norfolk, New Jersey, that same month was also disrupted by pro-Palestinian hecklers.
Seinfeld has described the protestors as being “off-target”.
“I love that these young people, they are trying to get engaged with politics. We have to just correct their aim a little bit. They don’t seem to understand that, as comedians, we really don’t control anything,” he said on the podcast Honestly.
“It’s so silly. It’s like, they want to express this sincere, intense rage. But again, a little off target.
“So that’s, to me, comedic.”