Jerry Seinfeld: Some Millennials Are Too Politically Correct With Comedy
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Jerry Seinfeld says some young people are too politically correct when it comes to comedy -- and he's calling out millennials for not being able to laugh.
The comedian made headlines when he talked about millennials during an ESPN radio show, CBS2's Cindy Hsu reports.
"I don't play colleges, but I hear a lot of people tell me, Don't go near colleges. They're so PC. They just want to use these words. That's racist. That's sexist. That's prejudice. They don't even know what they're talking about."
Comedian Eddie Brill has been in the biz for more than 30-years.
"Political correctness is awful, I mean the word 'politics' is in it so automatically it's a bad thing," Brill said.
He says it's taken the bite out of comedy, but hasn't noticed young people being any more PC than other groups.
"I think you can't generalize about Millennials, there are a group of Millennials and a group of Seniorials, who... they can't stand art, art has to be about them and that's not the way art works."
22-year-old Jake Ellman says Seinfeld is right.
"I agree completely," Ellman said. "Because it's comedy, it shouldn't be politically correct."
However, 23-year-old Devyn White disagrees.
"I think it's a good thing that people are more mindful of where other people are coming from," White said.
Sherman Charley, who sells "comedy show tickets" in Times Square, says you never know what's going to make people laugh -- and believes the crazier the better.
"I like the edgy stuff, of course that's what makes it," Charley said. "But anything goes for me -- you can drop a fart on somebody and that's funny to me."
If you're a big fan of Seinfeld's comedy, he says political correctness hasn't stopped him from delivering jokes on issues he can make funny, Hsu said.
"I always worried about political correctness and trying to please everyone and that was the least favorite time in my comedy career, the best time in my comedy career is when I made the art about what makes me laugh," Brill said.
Brill continued with "if you look at the greatest comics of all time what do they have in common, they do what just makes them happy, and they do their art."
Seinfeld joins comedians Chris Rock and Larry the Cable Guy in avoiding colleges.
