Students Walk Out Ahead Of Jerry Seinfeld Speech

Dozens of pro-Palestinian students at a US university commencement ceremony staged a walk out ahead of a speech by veteran comedian Jerry Seinfeld.

Footage on social media showed some robed graduates at Duke University, North Carolina, chanting and waving Palestinian flags in protest as the actor received an honorary degree on Sunday.

Seinfeld has been a vocal supporter of Israel since the 7 October Hamas attacks and throughout the course of the war in Gaza.

Many of the students at the ceremony stayed to listen to his speech, with several chanting words of support.

The incident happened as the 70-year-old was introduced on stage at the university’s football stadium by the institution’s president, Vincent Price.

Loud booing and chants of “Free Palestine” could be heard in videos posted on social media.

Several attendees in the surrounding rows could also be seen leaving as the actor began his speech.

Seinfeld, who is a Jewish actor and among 700 entertainment industry figures who signed an open letter in support of Israel’s right to defend itself following Hamas’s attack, managed to deliver his speech without further interruption.

Several in the crowd chanted “Jerry, Jerry” as he received his degree.

“A lot of you are thinking, ‘I can’t believe they invited this guy.’ Too late,” he said on Sunday, after pledging 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,” he told the graduates.

Seinfeld, who is the father of two students at Duke, visited a kibbutz in Israel in December and met with some of the families of hostages taken into Gaza by Hamas.

Www.bbcnews.co.uk/world