Stand-up comedian Dave Chappelle surely knows how to gather the crowd’s attention. He is one of the few comedians today who have no filter whatsoever in their comedy. This is also the reason why he has found himself amidst quite a few controversies. One such event included Dave Chappelle receiving criticism from the LGBTQIA+ community for the remarks he made in his Netflix special, The Closer.
Well, Dave Chappelle is all set to welcome more controversies into his life, owing to his appearance on the 47th season of Saturday Night Live. His monologue included Kanye West and jokes about his anti-semitic comments. The backlash towards the comedian comes as no surprise. Well, at least the ratings went up.
Dave Chappelle’s Monologue That Increased Ratings
Before starting his monologue, Dave Chappelle unfolded a paper and read it out loud as a tease of what’s to come. He declared that he denounced anti-Semitism and that he stands in support of his Jewish friends. After he had finished reading the statement, he stated “And that, Kanye, is how you buy yourself some time” relating to Kanye West’s controversy.
Chappelle’s fifteen-minute-long monologue was quite baffling to the viewers. He made jokes about Jews running the show business and stated that while it might not be crazy to think that, it sure is a big deal when someone says it out loud.
“..you might go to Hollywood and your mind might start connecting some kinds of dots, and you could maybe adopt the delusion that the Jews run show business. It’s not a crazy thing to think but it’s a crazy thing to say out loud in a climate like this.”
Some viewers believe that Chappelle was implying that the now disgraced rapper’s only fault was that he had talked about an unspoken truth. During his monologue, he also mentioned that while he has seen many Jews in Hollywood, it means nothing. He stated that just like Ferguson has a large number of Black people, it didn’t mean that they run the place.
The Anti-Defamation League CEO, Jonathan Greenblatt expressed his disappointment stating that while the world shouldn’t expect Chappelle to be a “moral compass,” at least Saturday Night Live should’ve stopped the comedian’s monologue. He further asked why their trauma had to “trigger applause.”
Regardless of what took place, the SNL episode recorded a viewership of 4.8 million. While this isn’t much compared to how the earlier seasons did, it is still an increase from the recent tragedy that has been SNL’s viewership. The show had an average of 4 million viewers before Chappelle’s episode. Is creating controversies the only way for SNL to get views?
Dave Chappelle Keeps his Plan a Secret
According to Page Six, a source reported that Chappelle’s monologue wasn’t discussed beforehand. Apparently, he had a different piece during rehearsals about a writer who refused to work with him. With everything going well, the comedian then switched the fake monologue with the real deal during the live show, and the rest is history. If there’s truth to this report, it looks like Chappelle certainly didn’t want the SNL team to know what he was up to.
It was also reported that some of the writers of the show were disappointed with Chappelle returning to host, that they decided to sit this episode out completely. Looking at the comedian’s history, controversy seems to follow him wherever he goes.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
