“If it’s offensive and not funny, then it’s not a joke.” So says Jerry Seinfeld, who knows a thing or two about the topic at hand.

Seinfeld offers this observation in a new interview with the New York Times. “What did you make of James Gunn, the ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ director, getting fired for his old Twitter jokes?” the interviewer asks. “I didn’t read the jokes, but if they’re jokes, it doesn’t matter,” says Seinfeld. “I guess Roseanne Barr thought she was being funny, but it wasn’t funny — and if it’s offensive and not funny, then it’s not a joke. But any comedian that doesn’t understand that dynamic, you’re finished anyway.”