Summary

Julia Louis-Dreyfus has responded to her Seinfeld co-star Jerry Seinfeld’s recent comments regarding political correctness and comedy.
She believes the real threat to art and creativity is the consolidation of money and power in the industry.
Louis-Dreyfus says that vigilance in creating art today, whether comedy or drama, is necessary as societal attitudes have shifted.

Veep star Julia Louis-Dreyfus has addressed the recent comments made by her Seinfeld co-star Jerry Seinfeld regarding political correctness, during which he referred to modern comedy as “PC crap.” In a new interview with The New York Times, Louis-Dreyfus was asked specifically about Seinfeld’s comments regarding “political correctness in comedy,” with the actress and comedian pushing back against them and saying such criticisms are often “a red flag.”

“If you look back on comedy and drama both, let’s say 30 years ago, through the lens of today, you might find bits and pieces that don’t age well. And I think to have an antenna about sensitivities is not a bad thing. It doesn’t mean that all comedy goes out the window as a result. When I hear people starting to complain about political correctness — and I understand why people might push back on it — but to me that’s a red flag, because it sometimes means something else. I believe being aware of certain sensitivities is not a bad thing. I don’t know how else to say it.”

Julia Louis-Dreyfus Reveals What She Thinks Is Really Hurting Creativity & Art

Louis-Dreyfus was then asked if there are certain things which were once considered funny but no longer are, or whether there are things now that she didn’t notice before. She took some time to consider her answer, revealing what she believes to be the real threat to creativity and art.

“I wanted to make sure that I answered this whole idea of political correctness correctly, and I can’t really remember what I said. So I wanted to go back to that and be very clear about where I stand. My feeling about all of it is that political correctness, insofar as it equates to tolerance, is obviously fantastic. And of course I reserve the right to boo anyone who says anything that offends me, while also respecting their right to free speech, right?
But the bigger problem — and I think the true threat to art and the creation of art — is the consolidation of money and power. All this siloing of studios and outlets and streamers and distributors — I don’t think it’s good for the creative voice. So that’s what I want to say in terms of the threat to art.”

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Reflecting again on “sensitivity in comedy,” Louis-Dreyfus said she couldn’t really judge the matter in those terms, but believes it’s “good to be vigilant.”

“I can’t judge if it’s better or not. I just know that the lens through which we create art today — and I’m not going to just specify it to comedy, it’s also drama — it’s a different lens. It really is. Even classically wonderful, indisputably great films from the past are riddled with attitudes that today would not be acceptable. So I think it’s just good to be vigilant.
I mean, pretend this show, your show, “The Interview,” was being made 40 years ago. I would posit that diversity would not be something you would be considering in terms of the guests that you would bring to the show. So that’s interesting, isn’t it? I mean, things have shifted. And in that case, I would say, things have shifted very much for the good. And also, actually, Lulu, probably you wouldn’t be the host.”

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