Comedian Jerry Seinfeld refused to hug pop star Kesha on the red carpet because he thought the gesture “was a little off”.
The iconic Seinfeld funnyman was approached by the singer while he was speaking to a reporter at the National Night of Laughter and Song event, held in Washington, D.C. on Monday (05Jun17).
“I was right in the middle of an interview, it was a little off,” he told Extra journalist AJ Calloway in a new chat about the awkward interaction, which was caught on camera and quickly went viral.
“I’m 63, I don’t know every pop star… I don’t know everyone,” he added, before noting he is not fond of hugging a “total stranger”.
“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,” Jerry quips. “I have to meet someone, say hello. I gotta start somewhere… hug isn’t first moment (instinct) of a human, two humans (sic). I never did that.”
But Jerry has no hard feelings – he laughed off Kesha’s hug attempt, joking, “I got a borderline harassment case here!”
The star went on to joke he needs decades of history between himself and another person before he is willing to share an embrace.
When asked by AJ why he chose to hug the reporter ahead of their interview, Jerry responded: “But I know you how many years (sic)? I’ve known you 20 years.”
Despite the embarrassing hug denial, Jerry insists he and Kesha are now on good terms after talking it out after the incident: “She was very nice about it, we laughed about it,” he said.
