Dave Chappelle won’t be weaving jokes and election news together when “Saturday Night Live” airs its first episode after America has determined Donald Trump will become the 47th president of the United States.
The veteran comic has had the privilege of handling the opening monologue on the first Saturday after Election Day since 2016. The race between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris had been declared one of the most consequential elections of this generation.
Polls have shown the GOP and Democratic candidates nearly tied for votes across the country leading up to the final tabulation of votes. When Trump secured his first Oval Office victory, Chappelle remarked that he “didn’t know Donald Trump would win the election” because “I know the whites.”
In 2020, when President Joe Biden defeated Trump, Chappelle had a 16-minute monologue. He jokingly thanked “God for COVID” because “Something had to lock these murderous whites in the house.”
But when viewers tune in to the long-running sketch program on Nov. 9, they’ll be greeted by his replacement and fellow comedian Bill Burr.
To the shock of many, the lineup shakeup was announced by “SNL” on Oct. 31. One reaction read, “The post-election SNL host not being Dave Chappelle is a crime. He won Emmys for his 2016 and 2020 gigs.
Another comment read, “Is Dave Chappelle on SNL this week? Keep the tradition alive! No matter what happens half this country will need a laugh.”
A third person on Twitter wrote, “#SNL has chosen #BillBurr over Dave Chappelle for the show after the election. Swapping out #Chappelle for Burr huh? Well that’s gonna be a HEAVY show, you’re speaking to a nation that might not even know what to say. Bill better be on his A-game for this.”
And a fourth Chappelle fan Dave Chappelle’s 2020 opening monologue on #SNL
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One person tweeted, “To all the people upset that Dave Chappelle’s not hosting the post-election show: the probable reason for this is that SNL must’ve seen all the backlash they got from trans people/allies when he last hosted in 2022 and decided that it’s for the best if they don’t do that again.”
Another rejoiced, “Finally, not Dave Chappelle!”
A swell of backlash formed in 2021 when the standup comic was accused of punching down on the LGBTQ+ community in his Netflix special “The Closer.” Amid the outpour of criticism, NBC, which broadcasts “SNL,” opted to tap Chappelle to host the program, leaving some fans said they were “shocked’ and “disappointed” in the decision.
However, claims of a strained relationship between the “Half-Baked” star and the network surfaced after reports claimed he deterred from a rehearsed monologue during the live-taped show.
Chappelle’s punchlines from the 2023 special “The Dreamer” fueled attempts to cancel him once more for material about transgender people.
Chappelle said in a show at the Punchline two weeks ago that SNL asked him to host the post-election slot and he turned it down.
— Ilya Abyzov (@IlyaAbyzov) October 31, 2024
One individual on X claimed that the actor revealed that he turned down the gig during a recent comedy show.
“Chappelle said in a show at the Punchline two weeks ago that SNL asked him to host the post-election slot and he turned it down,” that person alleged. “He said why, but it’s a bit of a circle of trust thing with those shows so I don’t want to blow that up. Let’s leave it at: they disagreed on what ground he could cover in the monologue.”
Following the results of the 2024 presidential election, another person posted, “I still remember how heavy that first episode of SNL felt after the 2016 election, hosted by Dave Chappelle. Tonight feels just as eerie, same feeling – different font.”
Neither NBC nor “SNL” producers have provided a statement regarding the decision to part ways with Chappelle. Burr, like his contemporary, has also been caught up in controversy for offensive jokes he dished on the show.
