‘Seinfeld’: 3 Times George Costanza Was Worse Than Jerry Seinfeld
Seinfeld fans have always been quick to point out just how awful the character of Jerry Seinfeld was during the series. While it is true that Jerry could be a pretty horrendous human, he wasn’t the only one of his pals that could be selfish and, frequently, downright terrible. Elaine Benes and Cosmo Kramer had their moments, too. But no one was nearly as bad as George Costanza. You can argue that George had moments when he was arguably worse than Jerry. Do you remember his three worst moments?
George Costanza pushed children and retirees out of the way to save himself from a fire
When considering George Costanza’s worst moments, Seinfeld fans are often drawn to the moment the perpetually single George pushed children and an older woman out of the way to escape a fire. In the season five episode, “The Fire,” George is invited to a children’s birthday party by the woman he is seeing. He agrees to attend, but when he discovers a fire in the kitchen, he doesn’t quietly and calmly lead the kids to safety. Instead, he pushes everyone out of the way to get out first.
George didn’t just push children out of his way. He left his date behind and nearly trampled over an old lady to be the first one out of the building. Say what you want about Jerry, but he never trampled over kids. Elaine and Kramer would have never, or, at least, we hope they wouldn’t have.
George inadvertently killed his fiance and wasn’t all that upset about it
Seinfeld fans were OK with most of George’s antics, regardless of how awful a person he was. In fact, his cluelessness was seen as a positive trait, and many fans argue that George was rarely malicious. Most of his bad moments were simple mishaps. Many did turn on the character when his fiancee, Susan Ross, died from toxic envelope glue. While inadvertently caused by George, her death would have been mostly fine with fans if he hadn’t seemed happy about it.
George’s frugality was a plot point several times during the run of Seinfeld. It even factored into much of his bad behavior. Still, his frugality went a little too far when it caused Susan’s death. During the show’s seventh season, George talks Susan into buying the cheapest wedding invitations possible. The toxic glue led to her death, and while George could have never known that would happen, he wasn’t exactly sad about her death, either. He seemed to view it as an easy out and some fans still aren’t OK with it.
George Costanza made up a charity to avoid buying holiday gifts
Seinfeld writers spread George’s bad behavior across all seasons. Still, most fans agree that his behavior got more outrageous as time went on. In the show’s final season, George invented a fake charity to get out of giving holiday gifts to his coworkers.
In the season 9 episode, “The Strike,” George concocts an idea to create a fake charity and hand out phony donation cards to his coworkers during the holidays. The fame cheapskate’s plan backfired when his boss attempted to donate $20,000 to the fund. While much hilarity ensued, fans of the show argue it was among George’s cheapest and worst moments.
