Students and attendees at Duke University’s graduation ceremony walked out in protest of comedian Jerry Seinfeld, who was the guest speaker.
Chants of “free Palestine” could be heard Sunday as others shouted “Jerry! Jerry!” in support of Seinfeld, an supporter of Israel with its war in Gaza.
Despite the exodus, the rest of the ceremony continued with no interruptions, per Reuters.
“A lot of you are thinking, ‘I can’t believe they invited this guy.’ Too late,” he said.
He vowed to “defend” the concept of privilege.
“I say, use your privilege. I grew up a Jewish boy from New York. That is a privilege if you want to be a comedian,” Seinfeld said.
A spokesman for Duke issued a statement about the protest.
“We understand the depth of feeling in our community, and as we have all year, we respect the right of everyone at Duke to express their views peacefully, without preventing graduates and their families from celebrating their achievement,” Duke spokesperson Frank Tramble said.
Seinfeld went to Israel and has supported Israel since Oct. 7 when Hamas launched an attack.
