Featured Image Credit: Paramount Pictures
Topics: Film and TV, Sex and Relationships
Amelia Jones
Jerry Seinfield has finally said sorry for the bee-stiality nuances in his 2007 kids film, Bee Movie.
Jerry Seinfeld is sorry for how 'uncomfortable' Bee Movie is, as it shows a bee repeatedly hitting on an human woman.
Jerry Seinfeld who portrayed main character, Barry B. Benson, and co-wrote the film jokingly apologised for the film, when he appeared on The Tonight Show in 2021, promoting the release of Seinfeld on Netflix.
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If you have forgotten about the weird bee-on-human romance from the film, here's a little reminder: Barry B Benson (voiced by Seinfeld) graduates from college and is going through that typical, new-grad freak out, where he realises full-time work is forever, and spirals into an existential crisis.
One evening, after a pollen-gathering expedition in NYC, Barry gets lost in the rain and ends up on the balcony of human, Vanessa (voiced by Renée Zellweger) who saves Barry, after her boyfriend Ken (Patrick Warburton) tries to squash him.
Despite the human-like bee society and inner monologue - it's only now when things get really weird. Vanessa and Barry have absurd sexual tension, which ends in the viewer rooting for Vanessa to break up with her boyfriend and be(e) with Barry.
Despite being the voice of reason throughout, Ken is portrayed as the bad guy for questioning the relationship between bee and human.
Seinfeld said on the program: "I apologise for what seems to be a certain uncomfortable subtle sexual aspect of the Bee Movie.
"It really was not intentional, but after it came out, I realised this is really not appropriate for children. Because the bee seemed to have a thing for the girl, and we don't really want to pursue that as an idea in children's entertainment."
When Vanessa breaks up with Ken because he tries to kill Barry again and says: “Fine! Talking bees, No yogurt night… My nerves are fried from riding on this emotional rollercoaster!” - literally, same.
The buzz about the awkward horniness and bee-zarre storyline of the Bee Movie has persisted with fans calling out the movie and its questionable narrative.
There's even a Facebook group entitled: Men like this are the reason why women are falling in love with bees with 6.6k members.
Consider this exhibit bee: one screenwriter, Spike Feresten, told The New Statesmen, that the film wasn't supposed to be sexual.
“Often we would lose sight of those characters in the room," he explained in an interview with the publication.
“They would just be Barry and Vanessa and we would write this dialogue for Barry and Vanessa, and read it over and have to remind ourselves, well, this is a tiny bee saying this, and the tiny bee is fighting with her boyfriend.
"So let’s dial it back to friend, and make it less romantic, because it’s getting weird.”
It sure is.