Larry David has some feelings about reclining airplane seats
The Curb star waded in on another social taboo
Your support helps us to tell the story
This election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.
The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.
Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.
Larry David didn’t hold back on those who like to kick back and recline while flying, during a recent podcast interview.
The star weighed in on airplane seat reclining, and other social taboos, on The Rich Eisen Show .
“Is it inappropriate to recline your seat on an airplane?” Eisen asked the comedian, who is promoting the final season of Curb Your Enthusiasm.
“100 per cent,” David replied. “You do not go back into a person’s lap. You don’t do that.”
“It’s so inconsiderate,” he continued. “One notch. I’ll give you one notch. One notch, that’s it.”
“Nobody wants to see your head! Okay?”
Eisen pointed out that the recline button exists “for a reason”. But David disagreed. “It’s wrong. The button’s wrong. They should eliminate those buttons,” he said.
Co-host Chris Brockman strongly disagreed, standing up for recline-button lovers.
“Why do I have the option to recline then, and expect me not to do it?” Brockman said. “Then take it away from the seat.”
“They should,” David retorted. “It’s for inconsiderate ***holes like you!”
Eisen then asked the Seinfeld writer if he preferred sitting straight on flights, to which he replied: “If I’m reading, yeah.”
“It’s all about consideration,” David continued. “You know what you’re not doing? You’re not golden ruling it. You’re not doing unto the person behind you as you would want the person in front of you doing unto you.”
The interview, recorded last month, sparked furious debate on social media after it was posted to the RichEisen Show’s account earlier this week.
“Ban the recline!” one person wrote on Instagram. “People are so inconsiderate. If you’re 5’11” or over, the seat of the inconsiderate recliner slams right into your knees. Thank you, Larry!”
“Reclining on airplane is messed up,” another added. “You do it to me and you get knees in your back the entire flight.”
Proud recliners doubled down.
“I’m 6’3”, I paid for my seat, it has that option,” one wrote. “I’m leaning back! Don’t fly on a plane if you don’t like it.”
Another suggested: “If everybody reclines, we all have the same amount of room.”
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments