Jerry Seinfeld dismissed a request from a live streamer to say “Free Palestine” outside Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night, replying with three words — “It doesn’t exist” — before walking away.
The incident occurred after the New York Knicks’ Game 4 victory over the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Finals, and was broadcast live on the streaming platform Kick by a content creator known as FinesseFave.
After leaving the arena, the streamer approached Mr. Seinfeld and said, “What up, Seinfeld. Can we get a free Palestine?” The comedian initially laughed before responding, “It doesn’t exist.”
The clip spread rapidly across social media, drawing both praise and condemnation. Critics characterized the remark as a dismissal of Palestinian identity and history, while supporters framed it as a sharp-witted rebuff of a content creator seeking viral engagement.
The exchange came on a night of high drama at Madison Square Garden. The Knicks pulled off the greatest comeback in NBA Finals history, rallying from a 29-point deficit to defeat the Spurs 107-106 in Game 4, with OG Anunoby tipping in a Jalen Brunson miss with 1.2 seconds remaining to give New York a 3-1 series lead.
Mr. Seinfeld, a lifelong Knicks fan, was courtside for the win alongside a star-studded crowd that included Taylor Swift, Adam Sandler and Chris Rock, among others.
It was not the first time Mr. Seinfeld has been confronted by pro-Palestinian activists outside the Garden. Last year, following a Knicks playoff loss to the Boston Celtics, a woman accused him of supporting genocide in Gaza, to which he laughed and responded, “Only you.”
The comedian has also previously told a separate online personality, “I don’t care about Palestine,” during a street encounter in February 2025.
Mr. Seinfeld has been an outspoken defender of Israel since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks. In a Duke University appearance last September, he compared the “Free Palestine” slogan to the Ku Klux Klan, saying the movement amounted to telling people they were “free to say you don’t like Jews” without being honest about it — and that the Klan was at least candid in its bigotry.
Following the Oct. 7 attacks, Mr. Seinfeld wrote on Instagram that he had lived and worked on a kibbutz in Israel at age 16 and had “loved our Jewish homeland ever since,” adding, “I will always stand with Israel and the Jewish people.”
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