Dave Chappelle was on TV once more.
This time, the divisive comedian spent the majority of an prolonged monologue on Saturday Night Live giving his ideas on Kanye “Ye” West’s rants in regards to the Jewish neighborhood.
On Sunday, the Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt criticized the NBC program, accusing the late-night staple of “popularizing antisemitism.”
“We shouldn’t expect @DaveChappelle to serve as society’s moral compass, but disturbing to see @nbcsnl not just normalize but popularize #antisemitism,” he wrote on Twitter. “Why are Jewish sensitivities denied or diminished at almost every turn? Why does our trauma trigger applause?”
The Jerusalem Post tweeted: “The American comedian Dave Chappelle said during his SNL monologue that he ‘denounces antisemitism in all its forms’… before promptly engaging in antisemitic tropes.”
While Time Out New York theater editor and critic Adam Feldman tweeted: “That Dave Chappelle SNL monologue probably did more to normalize anti-Semitism than anything Kanye said. Everyone knows Kanye is nuts. Chappelle posits himself as a teller of difficult truths. It’s worse.”
Yet Tangle News founder Isaac Saul tweeted: “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. And like Dave said, you can simultaneously note that it’s very stupid to think this means they are in some cabal controlling the world.”
Chappelle’s 15-minute monologue included feedback resembling saying Ye broke “the show business rules of perception … if they’re Black, then it’s a gang. If they’re Italian, it’s a mob. But if they’re Jewish, it’s a coincidence and you should never speak about it.”
He added: “I’ve been to Hollywood … this is what I saw: It’s a lot of Jews. Like, a lot. But that doesn’t mean anything! There’s a lot of Black people in Ferguson, Missouri. Doesn’t mean they run the place.” The comic mentioned he understood how anyone might “adopt the delusion” that Jewish individuals “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.” (For full context, the monologue is beneath).
Chappelle additionally mentioned NBA star Kyrie Irving, who not too long ago was suspended from the Brooklyn Nets after he shared a hyperlink to the documentary Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America, a movie that comprises antisemitic sentiments. “He was slow to apologize,” Chappelle mentioned. “And then the list of demands to get back in their good graces got longer and longer, and this is where I draw the line: I know the Jewish people have been through terrible things all over the world, but you can’t blame that on black Americans. You just can’t.”
Before the monologue, Chappelle unfolded a bit of paper and skim a dutiful assertion — “I denounce antisemitism in all its forms, and I stand with my friends in the Jewish community” — after which added, “And that, Kanye, is how you buy yourself some time.”
The Hollywood Reporter has reached out to NBC for remark.
The uproar follows Chappelle receiving appreciable blowback for 2 Netflix specials the place he criticized the trans rights motion and made jokes that many felt had been transphobic.
Last yr, Chappelle received an Emmy Award for, satirically sufficient, internet hosting Saturday Night Live.
