Jerry Seinfeld Weighs in on James Gunn's Controversial Jokes and Chris Pratt Opens Up About His Feelings on Gunn Being Fired
Comedian Jerry Seinfeld is a pretty blunt guy when it comes to comedy and political correctness. That's one of the reasons why I like him so much. He doesn't care what anyone thinks about his point of view on the world.
During a recent interview with the New York Times, Seinfeld weighed in on the controversy surrounding James Gunn be fired over his inappropriate jokes that resurfaced. He ended up comparing it to what happened with Roseanne. As you'll see, Seinfeld has a very different take on the matter.
"I didn’t read the jokes, but if they’re jokes, it doesn’t matter. I guess Roseanne Barr thought she was being funny, but it wasn’t funny — and if it’s offensive and not funny, then it’s not a joke. But any comedian that doesn’t understand that dynamic, you’re finished anyway."
He went on to explain that even if a joke is offensive he's not apologizing for it because it's a joke:
"No. Jokes are not real. People assume that when you say something that you believe it. It’s purely comedic invention. You know, I do this whole bit about Pop-Tarts and how much I love them. I don’t love Pop-Tarts. It’s just funny. It’s funny to say it, so I say it."
As for why you won't see Seinfeld making any jokes on Twitter, he doesn't see the point because there's no payoff.
"I don’t hear the laugh. Why waste my time? It’s a horrible performing interface. I can’t think of a worse one. I always think about people that write books. What a horrible feeling it must be to have poured your soul into a book over a number of years and somebody comes up to you and goes, 'I loved your book,' and they walk away, and you have no idea what worked and what didn’t. That to me is hell. That’s my definition of hell."
He makes a great point there. Anyway, on the other end of the spectrum, Chris Pratt recently opened up about Gunn being fired from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and how it's affecting him and the cast. This is what he said to Star Tribune:
"It's not an easy time. We all love James and he's a good friend of ours, but we also really love playing the Guardians of the Galaxy. It's a complicated situation for everybody. And you know, we just want to move forward and do what's right and be the best people we can be."
The last we heard, Disney is standing firm behind their decision in Firing Gunn and they will not rehire him.
What do you all think about Seinfeld's comments?