George Costanza line actually sparked a real-world

Seinfeld’s most quotable George Costanza line actually sparked a real-world change
Story by Joshua M. Patton • 3



Some 28 years after its controversial series finale, Seinfeldremains one of the most beloved sitcoms of all time. Yet, the show struggled for three years until its daring fourth season made the "show about nothing" a cultural force. There are many quotable lines from Seinfeld, but the most famous George Costanza line helped spark real-world change as part of a subtle fight against homophobia.

Wondering who sent that text?
Wondering who sent that text?
McAfee
·
Sponsored
call to action icon

Jerry Seinfeld rocketed to fame as part of the 1980s stand-up comedy boom. Agents and network executives felt that made him a great candidate to star in his own show. Despite test audiences hating the show, NBC ordered a shortened season of Seinfeld anyway. Shockingly, the series escaped cancelation for three seasons. After a move to a better timeslot, the producers knew the fourth season was their last shot and decided to take some big chances. Seinfeld Season 4 includes many of its most iconic episodes, and "The Outing" was its riskiest one by far. Interestingly, the famous line about being gay -- "Not that there's anything wrong with that" wasn't originally in the script.

How the History of Homophobia on Television and In Real-Life Inspired 'The Outing'

Image via Castle Rock Entertainment
Image via Castle Rock Entertainment
While problems related to representation for historically oppressed social demographics still exist in Hollywood, things are better than they were. To understand how "The Outing" fits into that larger context, one needs to understand the way both fictional characters and real-life figures reacted to rumors about their sexuality. A video essay by Matt Baume about "The Outing" lays it out in explicit detail, which contextualizes the "gay panic" element of the episode. One example is an infamous episode of WKRP in Cincinnatiin which a character is "accused" of being gay and ends up almost jumping off a building's ledge.

Related video: Elaine Benes’ funniest Seinfeld quote still hits just as hard 31 years later (Netflix Junkie)
Netflix Junkie
Elaine Benes’ funniest Seinfeld quote still hits just as hard 31 years later
And you can see Elaine slowly realizing something.
Current Time 0:57
/
Duration 2:05
0
View on Watch
View on Watch
More videos
George has nothing on Seinfeld
Dailymotion/Dailymotion
George has nothing on Seinfeld
0:59
Ross’s move on ‘Friends’ that made him a creep
FirstCuriosity/FirstCuriosity
Ross’s move on ‘Friends’ that made him a creep
0:55
Better Call Saul Was Almost a Sitcom — And That Would've Changed Everything
FirstCuriosity/FirstCuriosity
Better Call Saul Was Almost a Sitcom — And That Would've Changed Everything
1:15
Television didn't even acknowledge the existence of queer folks until the 1970s and 1980s. In most cases, the best queer characters could hope for was to be the butt of mean-spirited jokes. Baume also talks about how vehemently celebrities denied rumors about their sexuality. He cites a 1959 lawsuit Liberace filed against The Daily Mirror when a reporter referred to him as "fruit-flavored." In a statement to the court, the entertainer said homosexuality "offends convention and it offends society." Many celebrities, gay and straight, responded to such "allegations" with anger and homophobic vitriol.

Long before he had a show, there was rampant speculation about Seinfeld's sexuality. Baume tracked the origin of these rumors to a review of a 1972 play that "incorrectly identified his character as a homosexual." The comedian had openly gay friends, and he lived with comedian George Wallace for more than a decade. In a special featurette about "The Outing," writer Larry Charles wrote that people often think Jerry's character is gay, and he isn't bothered by it. At least, not until the rumor makes its way into the press.

Available Now - Call Now To Order - Flat-Rate Prices Start at $299
Available Now - Call Now To Order - Flat-Rate Prices Start at $299
allcountydumpsters.com
·
Sponsored
call to action icon

George Constanza's Most Quotable Seinfeld Line Wasn't Originally in 'The Outing'
The premise is a classic Seinfeld misunderstanding. Elaine catches a woman eavesdropping in the diner, and she jokingly says Jerry and George are a couple. The woman turns out to be a student reporter, and her interview is picked up by mainstream news outlets. The humor is meant to satirize how the characters' then-progressive attitude towards homosexuality disappears when the label is applied to them, rightly or wrongly. In the DVD featurette, Charles and the cast reveal that the episode almost never made it to air. During the read-through, Jerry's and George's "gay panic" struck the cast as homophobic.

Seinfeld, Charles, and Larry David gathered to discuss whether they could fix the script. While making the point, the humor was about insecurity, Charles spoke about being gay and added, "not that there's anything wrong with that." Seinfeld told him not just put that line in the script verbatim, but to have the characters repeat it throughout the episode. Technically, Jerry is the first to say it to the reporter, and other characters repeat it. Yet, Jason Alexander's iconic George Costanza performance is what made the line so quotable. While everyone now knows Larry David used his own experiences for George's stories, Alexander is why the character works.

Bruegel: The Drawings. Complete Edition. By Pieter And Ludwig Munz Bruegel By Thriftbooks, Hardcover
Bruegel: The Drawings. Complete Edition. By Pieter And Ludwig Munz Bruegel By Thriftbooks, Hardcover
Thriftbooks.com
·
Sponsored
call to action icon

In "The Outing," George is the bothered most by the misunderstanding. In the featurette, Alexander reveals that not only is this the George quote most often repeated to him by fans, but he also started hearing it "literally the next day" after the episode's debut. The scene where George's mother is so shaken that she ends up in the hospital is possibly a reference to the 1959 defamation case. To demonstrate the harm the article caused, Liberace claimed, "it made his mother so ill that she nearly died" and still hadn't recovered. His overwrought reactions aren't unique to being mistakenly identified as gay.

After all, George's dating life on Seinfeldis one disaster after another. He responds to other perceived embarrassments with the same intensity, from being told "It's not you, it's me" to declaring "I was in the pool!" George is so dominated by insecurity that he grows to believe that anyone who chooses to be with him is inherently flawed in some way. Despite his increasing stress, there is no lack of sincerity in "not that there's anything wrong with that" lines. That's what makes each one funnier than the last.

This Now Iconic Seinfeld Quote Is Part of TV's Role in Fighting Homophobia

Image via Castle Rock Entertainment
Image via Castle Rock Entertainment
Along with equitable treatment under the law, queer folks had to fight for the right to simply exist (which, sadly, is ongoing today). The societal advancement of their civil rights was won by regular folks putting their bodies on the line for the greater good. Still, decades of scholarly research tracked how the representation of queer people in television and film was part of that fight. Television brought queer characters into viewers' living rooms, often in shows where their identity was not the primary focus of the story. They have to be just regular people, like straight characters.

This episode actually earned a GLAAD Media Award despite not featuring any prominent, named queer characters. The almost Pavlovian quality made the line a shockingly effective counter to media-reinforced homophobia. People couldn't help themselves from responding to anti-gay sentiments with "not that there's anything wrong with that." The repetition was part of the joke, but the idea stuck in public consciousness. "The Outing" became one of Seinfeld's greatest legacies because the more people repeated the line, the more they believed it.

Of course, the series wasn't perfect, and there are plenty of problematic Seinfeld jokes. Some claim, as the cast and producers feared, "The Outing" is homophobic. Such a view is understandable, especially devoid of the contemporaneous context around the episode. "The Outing" was part of several subtle ways in which some 1990s television shows sought to normalize queer existence through storytelling. It wasn't always well-executed, from marginalizing queer characters in their own stories to casting straight actors in the roles. Yet, there is no denying that even the well-intentioned failures had a positive impact.

Plenty of classic sitcoms aged poorly as societal attitudes grew more enlightened and tolerant. There are also deeply powerful queer narratives rooted in the lived experience of the artists who made them. Discovering those stories and acknowledging the missteps of the past are a vital part of encouraging empathy, tolerance, and inclusion. Yet, there is no denying that things like Seinfeld's "The Outing" and other similar stories helped erode long-held prejudices, especially unconscious ones. They helped people realize that not only do queer folks exist in the world, but there's sincerely nothing wrong with that.

The complete Seinfeld series is available to own on DVD, Blu-ray, digital, and streams on Netflix.