The Big Picture
- “The Puerto Rican Day” episode of
Seinfeld
caused outrage for burning and stomping on the Puerto Rican flag. - Protests were held, letters were written, and NBC pulled the episode from syndication in response to the backlash.
- The controversy surrounding “The Puerto Rican Day” highlights the fine line between clever comedy and offensive content in
Seinfeld
.
When Seinfeld is at its best, it’s the perfect example of a show that deftly touches on a wide array of taboo subjects, either by not really directly referencing the subject (“I am master of my domain” skirting masturbation in “The Contest”) or, conversely, greatly exaggerating reactions (“Not that there’s anything wrong with that,” a cheeky politically correct reaction to homosexuality in “The Outing”). At its worst, Seinfeld can be offensive, outdated, and even hard to watch now. Shows that straddle the line between clever and crass can easily slip to one side or the other, so it’s a credit to the creative forces behind the show that Seinfeld walks that line more often than not. However, it doesn’t mean the show is infallible by any stretch.
There are many situations over the course of the show that Jerry (Jerry Seinfeld), Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), George (Jason Alexander), and Kramer (Michael Richards) get themselves into that were in bad taste the first time around, let alone now. But there’s one episode that stands out from the rest, and it’s the only Seinfeld episode that caused so much uproar that it was pulled from syndication: Season 9’s “The Puerto Rican Day.”
Seinfeld
The continuing misadventures of neurotic New York City stand-up comedian Jerry Seinfeld and his equally neurotic New York City friends.
- Release Date
- July 5, 1989
- Main Genre
- Comedy
- Seasons
- 9
- Creator
- Larry David, Jerry Seinfeld
Kramer Accidentally Burns and Stomps on the Puerto Rican Flag in “The Puerto Rican Day”
“The Puerto Rican Day” was the second highest-rated episode of the series, just behind the series finale that aired the following week. It follows Jerry, Elaine, George, and Kramer as they make their way home after leaving a Mets game early. Unfortunately, Fifth Avenue is blocked by the annual Puerto Rican Day Parade. Elaine gets out of the car and boards a taxi, which doesn’t make any more progress than the car she was in. She then attempts to walk underneath the viewing stands to her destination, only to find herself stuck under the stands with a host of others. George exits the car to see Blimp, a film about the Hindenburg disaster, ready to shout “That’s gotta hurt!” at the moment the Hindenburg goes down, a line that got laughs the first time he saw the movie. Not this time.
Kramer, who is always making schemes, needs to use a restroom, so he pretends to be a wealthy industrialist, H.E. Pennypacker, in order to gain access to an apartment that’s for sale. The final inning of the Mets game happens to be on the TV in the apartment, so Kramer invites “Kel Vamsen” (Jerry) and the infamous “Art Vandelay” (George) up to watch. With no one to watch the car, an angered mob (we’re getting there) surrounds the car and sticks it into a stairwell. Once everything has subsided, the group starts walking home.
There’s nothing in the synopsis of the episode that would seemingly suggest that it would incite outrage. In fact, it’s a return to form of sorts for the series, a stand-alone episode like “The Chinese Restaurant” or “The Puffy Shirt.” It’s what’s missing from the recap that incensed the public. Upon leaving the apartment, Kramer accidentally sets a Puerto Rican flag on fire with a sparkler, then proceeds to throw it on the ground and stomp on it to put the fire out. The act sees an angered mob of parade-goers approach Kramer, who escapes back into the apartment. As they watch the mob damage Jerry’s car, Kramer says, “It’s like this every day in Puerto Rico.”
‘Seinfeld’s “The Puerto Rican Day” Led to Outrage
That was enough to raise the ire of the Puerto Rican community. Protests were held at NBC in New York, harshly worded letters were written to NBC, and Latino radio stations were inundated with irate callers. An outraged Manuel Mirabal, president of the National Puerto Rican Coalition, staged a news conference demanding an apology and a promise that the episode would not be aired in syndication. “I was concerned that the Latinos depicted in the show were very stereotypical, like in West Side Story,” said Mirabal, “Then Kramer started running around with the Puerto Rican flag… at the point at which the flag was burned, my blood started boiling.” Fellow Puerto Rican leader Fernando Ferrer issued a statement condemning the scene: “The burning of the Puerto Rican flag as a sight gag was insulting to the millions who hold that flag dear, as was the slur that men rioting and vandalizing a car is like this every day in Puerto Rico.” NBC did apologize, releasing a statement to the effect that there was no intent to offend anyone, and bowed to public pressure by pulling the episode from syndication.
“The Puerto Rican Day” Was Pulled From Syndication
However, a response from an executive with the Seinfeld production company to Mirabal would suggest that NBC still didn’t get it, as they suggested that the episode could have been written about any parade, like the St. Patrick’s Day or Columbus Day parades. It’s an odd statement that either implies other groups wouldn’t get as upset, or Puerto Ricans should be grateful it was their parade that was chosen, while explicitly looking past the flag burning. There’s a hypocritical element to it as well. What if it wasn’t a Puerto Rican flag that was set on fire, but rather an American flag? The burning of an American flag was a cause for conviction for years before it was deemed protected under the First Amendment in 1989 and again in 1990, a mere 8 years prior to “The Puerto Rican Day.” A proposed amendment that would protect the American flag came as recently as 2006, a proposal that actually passed the House but failed by a single vote in the Senate. If the desecration of an American flag is so reviled that it only narrowly avoids being a cause for convictions, then Puerto Ricans have just as much right to have that same reaction when their flag is being burned on national TV.
‘Seinfeld’s Darkest Episode Feels Like It Belongs in a Completely Different Show
Elaine Benes had some bad boyfriends, but this one was the worst.
What’s ironic is how an episode like “The Puerto Rican Day” makes it to air, while there’s evidence of two episodes that never got made for fear of (you guessed it) controversy. One proposed episode would have had George observing, “You know, I have never seen a Black person order a salad.” The other was an episode that would have been called “The Bet” about a bet being made among the friends on whether Elaine would buy a gun for protection, with one scene that saw Elaine joke about shooting herself in the head, referring to it as “The Kennedy.” The creative team, wisely, saw the high probability of adverse reactions from the Black community, both sides of gun advocacy, and those that find little humor in presidential assassinations (although the Magic Loogie reenactment from “The Boyfriend” did far earlier), so how they didn’t pick up on possible reactions to “The Puerto Rican Day” — especially when the title alone was enough for Mirabal to campaign against it months before it was aired — is a mystery. Nevertheless, you do have the option to make up your own mind about the episode: NBC placed it back into syndication in 2002.
