Jerry Seinfeld Explains Awkward Kesha Interaction: ‘I Don’t Hug a Total Stranger’
Jerry Seinfeld has a good explanation for that awkward Kesha interaction – and according to the veteran comedian, the affront wasn’t meant to be taken personally.
“I’m 63, I don’t know every pop star … I don’t know everyone,” Seinfeld told Extra’s AJ Calloway at the GOOD+ Foundation and MR PORTER Fatherhood Lunch. When asked whether he’s just not a hugger, the veteran comic clarified, “I’m not, well, as a total stranger.”
Seinfeld added, “I was right in the middle of an interview, it was a little off. When you get to be my age and you’ve done a couple things, you have your own reality, in my reality … I don’t hug a total stranger. I have to meet someone, say hello. I gotta start somewhere … hug isn’t first moment of a human, two humans. I never did that.”
Yesterday, Seinfeld found himself the subject of a viral clip circulating the Internet, in which he adamantly denied Kesha a hug not once, not twice, but three times while on the red carpet at the David Lynch Foundation’s National Night of Laughter and Song.
In the now-infamous, painfully awkward moment, Kesha excitedly approaches the former Seinfeld star with her arms outstretched, going in for a hug, as the comedian is in the middle of a red carpet interview.
“I’m Kesha, I love you so much,” she says in the video. “Can I give you a hug?”
“No, thanks,” he replies with one hand up, as though to shield himself from the “TiK ToK” singer. On Thursday, Seinfeld joked with Callaway that he has a “borderline harassment case here!”
Not that the sitcom star has anything against Kesha. “I’m sure I would’ve liked her, but I need to know who you are.” Seinfeld added that he and the pop star were able to laugh off the incident afterward off-camera, though he still refused to embrace Kesha.
Jerry Seinfeld makes headlines after dodging three hugs from singer Kesha. Watch here.