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Jerry Seinfeld: ‘I don’t have autism, I’m not on the spectrum’

Jerry Seinfeld is interviewed on the red carpet at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, before attending a show for the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor on Oct. 19.
Jerry Seinfeld is interviewed on the red carpet at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, before attending a show for the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor on Oct. 19.
(Kevin Wolf / Associated Press)
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Jerry Seinfeld is recanting his remarks about possibly being on the autism spectrum.

The 60-year-old “Seinfeld” star, who said on “NBC Nightly News” that he might have the disorder, stepped back from his statements during a recent interview with “Access Hollywood’s” Billy Bush.

“I don’t have autism, I’m not on the spectrum,” he said. “I just was watching this play about it and thought, ‘Why am I relating to something? ... I related to it on some level. That’s all I was saying.”

Earlier this month, the “Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee” host told NBC News anchor Brian Williams that he thought “on a drawn-out scale” he might have the disorder, citing markers in his self-diagnosis such as “never paying attention to the right things” and basic social engagement being “really a struggle.”

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Some autism groups lauded the admission; others accused the Emmy winner of oversimplifying the condition.

It turns out that Seinfeld recognizes a difficulty relating and talking to other people in many of the comics he’s come across.

“I find most of the comedians, in fact, all of the comedians that we’ve had on ‘Comedians in Cars,’ usually I will at some point in the show ... [ask], ‘Do you have trouble talking to just regular people?’ And they always say yes.”

Seinfeld blamed it on the fact that “comedians never talk about normal things.”

“They don’t talk about the weather and how you’re doing ... they’re always talking about something weird,” he said.

Who are these people?! Follow me on Twitter @NardineSaad

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