Julia Louis-Dreyfus shares her own comments on political correctness

If anyone should get to comment on political correctness in comedy it’s Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who won multiple Emmys for playing one of the most politically incorrect characters ever put on screen in Veep. But while Louis-Dreyfus’ run as (Vice) President Selina Meyer thoroughly proved that you can be hilarious and still push boundaries in the 21st century, the actor’s recent comments didn’t come in response to any of the wild string of insults she lobbed on that show.

In a widely shared New Yorker interview from April, Louis-Dreyfus’ old co-star, Jerry Seinfeld, suggested that there was no “funny stuff” on TV anymore as a result of “the extreme left and P.C. crap, and people worrying so much about offending other people.” Unfortunately for Seinfeld, it seems like the fact that he can’t put funny stuff onscreen anymore is his own fault, not anyone else’s. (We gave his recent film Unfrosted a “C.” ) Even worse for the comedian, Louis-Dreyfus managed to make his anti-woke comments look even more “old man yells at cloud” in a recent, tactful response in The New York Times.

“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,” she said. Without explicitly naming Seinfeld (although the interviewer did name him in her question), Louis-Dreyfus continued: “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 think it’s just good to be vigilant,” the actor continued on a follow-up call with the outlet 11 days later. “[T]he 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.” No one in their right mind would ever want Selina Meyer to be the president of the country (or anything really), but Julia? She’s on the right track.