Jerry Seinfeld posits the question: "What's the deal with 'Free Palestine?'"

dropdatwat · Sep 11, 2025

Jerry Seinfeld likened the Free Palestine movement to the Ku Klux Klan — even saying those who use the phrase "Free Palestine" are worse than the white supremacist group — at a student event at Duke University meant to honor hostages who are being held in Gaza.

Seinfeld spoke at the school in Durham, North Carolina, to introduce a former Israeli hostage, Omer Shem Tov, when he made the remarks, according to the university's student newspaper, The Duke Chronicle. He reportedly started by saying, in reference to the Free Palestine activist movement, "Just say you don’t like Jews."

“By saying 'Free Palestine,' you’re not admitting what you really think. So it’s actually — compared to the Ku Klux Klan, I’m actually thinking the Klan is actually a little better here, because they can come right out and say, ‘We don’t like Blacks, we don’t like Jews.’ Okay, that’s honest,'" the Chronicle reported Seinfeld said.

Representatives for Seinfeld did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A spokesperson for Duke University said in a statement that the school does not preview remarks of speakers who are invited to campus and that an invitation “does not imply any endorsement of their remarks.”

“The student group Chabad at Duke was the lead organizer of Tuesday’s event and invited the speakers. Omer Shem Tov was introduced by Jerry Seinfeld, who requested his appearance not be announced beforehand given Omer Shem Tov’s spiritual journey during captivity was the focus of the event,” the spokesperson said.

Mason Herman, a Duke student and president of the Chabad student group, told NBC News that neither the organization nor the university are responsible for remarks made by an invited speaker.

"This event was highlighting the fact that there are more than 40 hostages still in Gaza," Herman said. "To one, raise awareness of that fact, and, two, to share their plight while in captivity. And to share Omer's story."

Shem Tov, 22, was taken hostage at the Nova music festival in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and was not released by Hamas until February in a ceasefire agreement. He was reunited with his parents at a hospital after he returned to Israel.

Seinfeld has been outspoken in his support of Israel since the Hamas-led attack, in which 1,200 people died and about 250 others were taken hostage. Since then, Israeli forces have killed more than 64,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to health officials in the enclave.

Official believe that about 20 of the 48 hostages who remain in Gaza are still alive and that their fate remains in the balance.

Students at Duke protested Seinfeld’s commencement speech last year amid a wave of antiwar demonstrations on college campuses across the country. Seinfeld was met with boos as he took the stage, and many people walked out of the ceremony.

Video on social media showed a group of students with Palestinian flags walking down an aisle on the stadium field.