Comedian Jerry Seinfeld has come out in full support of Larry David’s controversial attack on the beloved puppet Elmo during an appearance on ‘Today.’
On Wednesday, Seinfeld spoke about the incident during an appearance on the show, after host Jenna Bush Hager asked him, ‘Did you see when Larry David was here and he attacked Elmo?’ As co-host Hoda Kotb said it was ‘sad,’ Seinfeld responded, ‘No, I liked it. I enjoyed that!’
On Feb. 1, David walked onstage at the show while the group was taping a segment about mental health with Elmo and physically attacked the puppet. The incident took the hosts by surprise, and later caused great discussion on the internet, with many speaking out against David.
Puppeteers later told THR that the altercation scared them. ‘You know, there was a person’s hand inside of there and that wasn’t a pretty planned thing. And so the puppeteer in me was like, ‘Oh my god, that’s super dangerous. Like, you just grabbed someone’s hand and twisted it,” John Tartaglia said. ‘People forget all the time, all the time that there is somebody inside of these characters when you don’t see us. And so, it’s a risk that we take.’
On Wednesday, Bush Hager pushed back against Seinfeld’s support of the attack, saying with a chuckle, ‘Elmo is an American treasure!’ Seinfeld responded: ‘Well, even treasures need a beating once in a while.’ When Bush Hager told the comedian he was ‘just standing up for your friend,’ though, Seinfeld conceded, ‘That is true.’
