Trending badgeTrendingPosted 2 hours agoSubscribe to BuzzFeed Daily NewsletterCaret DownJerry Seinfeld Is Under Serious Fire For Comparing The "Free Palestine" Movement To The KKK"I'm actually thinking the Klan is actually a little better here..."by Li ZhouHuffPost ContributorFacebookPinterestLink Comedian Jerry Seinfeld is facing backlash after drawing a startling comparison between the "Free Palestine" movement and the Ku Klux Klan during an appearance at Duke University on Tuesday. Arturo Holmes / Getty Images Per a report from The Duke Chronicle, the university's student newspaper, Seinfeld made the statement while suggesting that the "Free Palestine" movement was antisemitic. "Free Palestine is, to me, just - you're free to say you don't like Jews. Just say you don't like Jews," Seinfeld said. "By saying 'Free Palestine,' you're not admitting what you really think," he added. "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.' OK, that's honest." Hum Images / Getty Images The event was organized by groups, including Chabad at Duke, and was dedicated to drawing attention to the experiences of Israeli hostages who were captured by Hamas during the brutal attacks on October 7. Seinfeld was introducing Omer Shem Tov, an Israeli hostage who was taken by Hamas from a music festival in 2023 and released in February 2025. A Seinfeld spokesperson declined to comment, and a Duke University spokesperson said that it doesn't preview or endorse remarks by speakers. Seinfeld's comments have drawn fierce criticism, given his likening of the "Free Palestine" movement to a notorious white supremacist organization. Nurphoto / Getty Images "If the school wants to be a place of diversity and inclusion and equity, they need to speak out and deplore what he said and support all the students," Laila Dames, a Duke public policy student, told ABC 11.
Seinfeld has been a staunch supporter of Israel, and also ignited controversy earlier this year when he stated that he did not "care about Palestine," after an activist approached him on the issue. Alberto Rodriguez / Getty Images Israel's offensive in Gaza has killed more than 60,000 people, according to Palestinian health authorities, in addition to fueling a spiraling humanitarian crisis in the region. Previously, dozens of students walked out of Seinfeld's Duke commencement speech in May 2024. Other demonstrators have confronted him at comedy shows in Oregon and Virginia as well. This article originally appeared on HuffPost.