Compare and contrast these two news articles. Both are about Jerry Seinfeld being heckled by pro-Palestine protestors.
The first, from Newshub, takes the point of view of some random woman named Chloe Jamieson whose only qualification is that she was at the show.
From this journalism expert we learn that someone in the expensive section started heckling Jerry Seinfeld and not only got kicked out by security, but got a couple of burns from Jerry himself.
In the video Jamieson shared with Newshub, Seinfeld can be seen responding to the hecklers: “You’ve got it all figured out!”
“I have been talking to a lot of people in media and they keep asking me, ‘what are the opinions of people in Christchurch?’ They want to know,” he said.
“This is where public opinion is really shaped all over the globe. Nobody thinks anything in New York, or London or Paris – they ask ‘but what are they thinking in Christchurch?’
“Thank you for giving me though, I don’t know why you did. That guy just gave me a lot of money.”
Newshub
According to Chloe, who is an expert on free speech, we’re meant to feel sorry for the hecklers.
Jamieson said she “felt bad” because the hecklers were booed.
“I feel like the protesters are right, they should be able to express how they’re feeling. It’s just crazy what’s going on [in Gaza],” she said.
Never mind everyone else in the audience who paid good money to see one of the world’s greatest comedians.
Oh, and for some reason, the fact that Jerry visited an Israeli military camp back in 2018…or is it just because he’s Jewish?
The second article is from the Independent (UK). Same thing, different place.
Jerry Seinfeld delivered a stinging rebuke to a group of pro-Palestinian supporters who disrupted his stand-up show in Melbourne, Australia, joking: “I think you need to go back and tell whoever is running your organization, ‘We just gave more money to a Jew.’”
The 70-year-old sitcom star reportedly added: “That cannot be a good plan for you. You gotta come up with a better plan!”
Seinfeld has repeatedly been heckled over his outspoken support for Israel during his tour of Australia.
Last week, he mocked another heckler who interrupted his show in Sydney.
A video shared on X showed the protester briefly disrupting his routine at the Qudos Bank Arena on Sunday, shouting: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
The Independent
Unfortunately the article then goes into a tangent about the Gulf War, but then ends with the following:
[…] 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.
In the first article, one of the world’s greatest comedians is portrayed as someone who loves making fun of poor pro-Palestine protestors just exercising their free speech.
In the second, he’s portrayed as someone who can give as good as he gets, and better, when it comes to hecklers. And especially if they’re pro-Palestine hecklers.
But anyway, I’m just waiting for 7 Days to accidentally invite a Jewish comedian on the show and for pro-Palestine protestors to crash the set.
We should be so lucky.
