#11 Homosexual Happenings

In “The Outing” (February 11, 1993) Seinfeld dealt with the somewhat political topic of homosexuality. Jerry (Jerry Seinfeld) and George Costanza (Jason Alexander) are accused of being gay because of a newspaper article that a NYU graduate student published. Seinfeld handles homosexuality with caution but is submissively sly about it, especially with the comments that the characters make. There are several negative undertones about homosexuals such as the classic one-liner “not that there is anything wrong with that (homosexuality or homosexuals).” Jerry and George continue to repeat this line suggesting that there is, indeed, something deathly wrong with homosexuality. I believe that Seinfeld is negatively biased about the topic of homosexuality. The characters also seem to be rather homophobic which I believe reinforces that fact that Seinfeld has a negative opinion about homosexuals in general. Jerry accuses Kramer of fitting the “stereotype” of homosexuals and in turn Kramer freaks out. Altogether, I believe that Seinfeld skillfully found the fine line between offensive content and a harmless television show.