Dave Chappelle’s SNL monologue is catching some heat.
Controversial comedian Dave Chappelle who made his highly-anticipated return to “Saturday Night Live,” where he spent most of his time during the 15-minute monologue talking about Kanye West’s rant about Jewish people.
Backlash over his comments ensued almost immediately, but his fans weren’t letting him go down alone and quickly came to his defense.
During his appearance, one that reportedly triggered many writers of the series to boycott the show, the veteran funnyman unfolded a piece of paper and read a statement: “I denounce anti-Semitism in all its forms, and I stand with my friends in the Jewish community” before jokingly adding, “And that, Kanye, is how you buy yourself some time.”
Chappelle mocked West, who legally changed his name to Ye, and said that the Grammy Award-winning rapper had broken “the show business rules,” which are “the rules of perception.” “If they’re Black, then it’s a gang. If they’re Italian, it’s a mob,” he said. “But if they’re Jewish, it’s a coincidence, and you should never speak about it.”
The actor joked that “Kanye got in so much trouble, Kyrie got in trouble,” referencing the NBA star suspended by the Brooklyn Nets after sharing a link to an anti-Semitic film on social media. Chappelle also highlighted the abundance of Jewish people he’s seen in Hollywood. “But that doesn’t mean anything,” he explained. “There’s a lot of Black people in Ferguson, Missouri. Doesn’t mean they run the place.”
Yet he acknowledged, “But I could see if you had some kind of issue, you might go out to Hollywood and start connecting some kind of lines, and you could maybe adopt the illusion that Jews run show business.” “It’s not a crazy thing to think,” he added. “But it’s a crazy thing to say out loud in a climate like this.”
The following day, the Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt criticized the NBC network, accusing the iconic show of “popularizing anti-Semitism.” “We shouldn’t expect @DaveChappelle to serve as society’s moral compass, but disturbing to see @nbcsnl not just normalize but popularize #antisemitism. Why are Jewish sensitivities denied or diminished at almost every turn? Why does our trauma trigger applause?”
“But fans quickly fired back, including one user who wrote, “You all are overplaying this antisemitism trope and it appears to be with black men ONLY. This isn’t about religion, it’s about white supremacy being practiced under the guise of it.” They added, “Save this energy for the guys with tiki torches screaming they refuse to be replaced by you.”
Another person wrote, “Exactly, saying you can tell jokes about everything and everyone else except one particular group only increases resentment. Claiming you have no power and influence while using your power and influence to destroy someone for a joke seems counterintuitive.”
Chappelle even got support from members of the Jewish community. Tangle News founder Isaac Saul wrote on Twitter, “Let me be the first Jew to say: Dave Chappelle’s SNL open last night was hilarious, timely, honest, and a reminder that he still understands this country better than a lot of people whose whole job is to understand the country. It’s okay to acknowledge there are a lot of Jews in media and Hollywood.”
Sault added, “And like Dave said, you can simultaneously note that it’s very stupid to think this means they are in some cabal control
