--- ---  # Donald Trump's Chief Strategist Stephen Bannon Earns Money From _Seinfeld_ Reruns by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Nov 16, 2016 10:36 PM UTC  Brietbart News Daily on SiriusXM Patriot at Quicken Loans Arena on July 21, 2016 in Cleveland, Ohio. Brietbart News Daily on SiriusXM Patriot at Quicken Loans Arena on July 21, 2016 in Cleveland, Ohio.Ben Jackson—2016 Getty Images by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Nov 16, 2016 10:36 PM UTC Every time you watch a rerun of _Seinfeld_ on TV, Stephen Bannon, the former head of Breitbart News who was named [Donald Trump](http://time.com/4573437/donald-trump-presidential-transition/)‘s chief White House strategist, earns money. Bannon—who has given voice to racist, sexist, anti-Semitic and nationalist views through Breitbart—[owns a stake](http://time.com/4455686/who-is-stephen-bannon-trump/) in _Seinfeld_ after negotiating the sale of Castle Rock Entertainment to Ted Turner under his firm Bannon & Co., long before he became executive chairman of Breitbart News or joined Trump’s campaign. Bannon’s controversial appointment as Trump’s chief strategist and senior adviser in the White House [sparked fury](http://time.com/4569588/donald-trump-stephen-bannon-breitbart-white-house/) from anti-discrimination groups and members of Congress. And on Wednesday, former _Seinfeld_ star Jason Alexander, who played George Costanza on the comedy, said he did not find the fact that Bannon earns royalties from the show very funny. > [](https://twitter.com/IJasonAlexander/status/798953661577588736) A representative for Alexander said he was not speaking any further on the topic of Bannon, while a representative for Jerry Seinfeld declined to comment. A representative for Julia Louis-Dreyfus did not respond to TIME request for comment. Steve Bannon Earns Money From 'Seinfeld' Reruns ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4573689/stephen-bannon-seinfeld/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4573689/stephen-bannon-seinfeld/"},"headline":"Donald Trump's Chief Strategist Stephen Bannon Earns Money From Seinfeld Reruns","datePublished":"2016-11-16T22:36:47.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T01:51:43.114Z","description":"And Jason Alexander is not happy","url":"https://time.com/4573689/stephen-bannon-seinfeld/","keywords":["White House"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte874aa1fd3ff9d3f/6988aecc0b72e391bb6ebca4/steve-bannon-seinfeld.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahita Gajanan","jobTitle":"Gajanan is an editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte874aa1fd3ff9d3f/6988aecc0b72e391bb6ebca4/steve-bannon-seinfeld.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"steve-bannon-seinfeld","caption":"CLEVELAND, OH - JULY 21: Brietbart News Daily on SiriusXM Patriot at Quicken Loans Arena on July 21, 2016 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Ben Jackson/Getty Images for SiriusXM)","creditText":"Ben Jackson—2016 Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4573689/stephen-bannon-seinfeld/","name":"Donald Trump's Chief Strategist Stephen Bannon Earns Money From Seinfeld Reruns"}}]}] ```