After two decades since the release of the ‘Bee Movie’, Jerry Seinfeld apologized for its sexual undertones at a commencement exercise at the Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, where his daughter Sascha previously graduated and where his son Julian is currently enrolled.
The comedian thought about one controversial aspect of the plot of his animated film Bee Movie from 2007 during his speech.
Seinfeld stated, “I made a cartoon movie about bees you may have watched as a child,” in a video that was taken at the event and uploaded ON TikTok.
@drummerofphc Jerry apologizes about the bee movie😭 #jerryseinfeld #duke #classof2024 ♬ original sound – Levi 😎
“If any of you felt slightly uncomfortable about the sexual undertones in the relationship between Barry B. Benson and Vanessa, the florist who saves his life, I would like to apologize for that now,” he said, drawing laughter from the audience. “I may not have calibrated that perfectly.”
A recurring joke among fans of the DreamWorks children’s film was the romantic tension between Seinfeld’s character, Barry, a bee, and Renée Zellweger’s character, Vanessa, a human. During an appearance on The Tonight Show in October 2021, Seinfeld addressed the same matter and again expressed regret for the insinuation.
“I apologize for what seems to be a certain uncomfortable subtle sexual aspect of the Bee Movie,” he stated at the time. “[It] really was not intentional, but after it came out, I realized this is really not appropriate for children. Because the bee seems to have a thing for the girl, and we don’t really want to pursue that as an idea in children’s entertainment.”
Public attention was also drawn to Seinfeld’s Duke commencement speech when anti-war demonstrators left the ceremony and jeered the TV personality as he stood at the podium, as reported by NBC News and CBS News.
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