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Seinfeld Fans Are Drowning In Controversy Over One Detail About The Show's Main Characters

In 1989, actor, writer, and comedian Jerry Seinfeld began the journey of his hit comedy series, "Seinfeld." The show is set in New York City and follows the lives of a group of friends who, on the surface, appear to be like every other adult in America, just trying to do the best they can. Underneath the wholesome synopsis, however, is a mess of problems as the characters take everyday situations and blow them out of proportion, often spending entire episodes on problems as minuscule as not getting soup when they want it.

With the brilliant minds behind "Seinfeld," including comedians like Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Michael Richards, and Jason Alexander, the show struck comedic gold from the very first season, remains a piece of pop culture history, and is possibly one of the only television series in which the cast unanimously decided the show was done. The series' over-the-top main characters have received both love and hate from audiences for decades and for various reasons. Still, there is one specific detail regarding the characters that's causing an uproar of controversy for fans of the show.

Are the characters in Seinfeld bad people?

Redditor u/418156 opened the digital floor up to discussion when they asked, "Are the people in 'Seinfeld' really that bad?" They then made a case that they are not, concluding, "Most of the horrible things they do are the results of mistakes and misunderstandings. For the most part, they are TRYING to do the right thing and failing (like us all)."

While many episodes of "Seinfeld" center around the characters causing chaos in their lives and the lives of others over everyday inconvenience, some episodes, like the series finale, could be considered worse than just any regular misunderstanding. Redditor u/CasualSpider came to the thread with some insight, writing, "I think that they (with the exception of Kramer) are just very shallow people. Like the kind that you know would talk about you behind your back."

The discourse surrounding the main characters of "Seinfeld" isn't new, and it isn't going away any time soon. Ravi Shankar shared a poll on Twitter in which fans were asked to vote for the "Seinfeld" character they consider "the most immoral." The winner was George Costanza (Jason Alexander) with 63%. 

Fortunately for George, Alexander caught sight of this and came to his old character's defense, tweeting, "Wow, this kinda stings. I mean, come on...more immoral than Newman??" Newman (Wayne Knight), Jerry's neighbor and nemesis, always seems to be either the cause of a problem or involved in a scheme of some sort.

The show's satirical nature continues to bring back old audiences for another binge-watch and pull new fans in for first-time laughs even after its end in 1998. Whether you believe the characters are bad, misunderstood, or just like everyone else, there are belly laughs to be had in every episode.