‘Just gave money to a Jew’: Seinfeld faces more pro-Palestine hecklers in Melbourne
By Cameron Woodhead
US comedian Jerry Seinfeld didn’t back down when hecklers interrupted his Melbourne show on Saturday night, sending the crowd at Rod Laver Arena into laughter.
Ten minutes before the evening show was due to finish, at least two protesters chanted “free Palestine”, prompting Seinfeld to draw on his trademark black comedy.
“You need to go back and tell whoever is running your organisation (that) ‘we just gave more money to a Jew’,” the 70-year-old US comedian told the protesters.
The response drew raucous laughter from the crowd as he continued with a two-minute spiel in response to the interruption.
“Listen, dude, listen, listen, let me explain something. You and I are in the same business,” he said.
He went on to tell the protesters that they were in the wrong place. “Our business is to get people to see things the way we see it,” he said.
Later, before taking questions from the audience, Seinfeld mused that the protesters might’ve taken so long to make their presence known because they were enjoying the show.
A handful of protesters had gathered at the entrances to Rod Laver Arena. At least 10 police officers were also on hand, but no trouble was reported. Event organisers had been expecting a crowd of up to 500 protesters.
It follows incidents at two of Seinfeld’s recent Sydney shows, where he was targeted by pro-Palestinian protesters during his performances.
In a statement issued to this masthead last week, activists associated with the protest actions in Sydney explained why they targeted Seinfeld.
They said they hoped to “raise awareness for both Seinfeld’s audience and the wider community of the current and ongoing illegal occupation and genocide perpetrated by Israel against the Palestinians” and to “generate conversation around the issue and encourage others to educate themselves and engage more deeply” with it.
Accepting that their protests might make patrons uncomfortable, the Sydney activists said “but such discomfort surely pales in comparison to our community’s collective trauma at the devastating loss of life in Gaza and the West Bank for the last eight months (and indeed since 1948)”.
The activists, who claim not to have bought tickets to Seinfeld’s shows but to have received them from people who had decided against attending after becoming aware of the comedian’s views, insist they are not antisemitic.
Seinfeld has become the target of protesters over what has been interpreted as his support for Israel’s military response to the October 7 terrorist attacks by Hamas, in which 1200 people were killed and another 250 taken hostage.
Since then, Israel’s campaign of retaliation has resulted in the deaths of almost 37,600 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Israel’s military says more than 300 of its troops have died in the fighting.
Seinfeld and his wife, Jessica, visited Israel in December and toured sites of the Hamas attacks.
On her Instagram, Jessica posted on Christmas Eve that this was her fifth visit, “and I have never seen a more unified country. Among people of all walks of life, from wounded soldiers to families of peace activists whose mothers, fathers or siblings were murdered or are still held captive in Gaza, the horror of October 7th has erased divisions within Israel. Everyone has come together for a greater cause – to defeat Hamas, to build a better and safer Israel, and a better, safer world”.
On October 10, Seinfeld had himself posted an image of a young woman wrapped in an Israeli flag, with the legend “I stand with Israel”.
“We believe in justice, freedom and equality,” he wrote. “We survive and flourish no matter what. I will always stand with Israel and the Jewish people.”
In an interview with podcaster Bari Weiss last month, he described the visit to Israel as “the most powerful experience of my life”.
Though his statements on the conflict have rarely been overtly political (except insofar as he has taken to dismissing so-called “woke” culture), they have been deemed partisan enough for anti-war protesters in the United States to take issue.
Last month, some students at Duke University walked out on their own graduation ceremony as honorary guest Seinfeld began a commencement speech.
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correction
This article has had an update to the Palestinian casualty figures, including sourcing them to Gaza’s Health Ministry.