Taking the main stage at NBC’s Studio 8H on Saturday night, comedian Dave Chappelle used his monologue as host of this week’s “Saturday Night Live” to talk about current events, but declined to discuss anything related to recent anti -trans jokes he told that caused controversy. .
Chappelle sparked outrage last year after the release of “The Closer” in October, which featured harmful remarks from the 49-year-old comedian about the transgender community and prompted immediate backlash from Netflix staff. That included a phasing out of Netflix’s transgender employees and allies after the streamer’s chief content officer, Ted Sarandos, defended Chappelle’s harmful jokes as artistic expression, arguing for his “creative freedom.”
Instead, Chappelle spent the first part of his monologue commenting on rapper Kanye West’s recent anti-Semitic statements, saying, “I wanted to read a statement that I prepared: I denounce anti-Semitism in all its forms and I stand with my friends in the Jewish community. And so, Kanye, you’re buying yourself some time.” He then proceeded to mock Kanye’s anti-Semitic messages, as well as Kyrie Irving’s recent anti-Semitic scandal and apology.
Chappelle also cracked some jokes that had the audience gasping, including: “I’ve been to Hollywood and this is what I saw: There’s a lot of Jews, there’s a lot of them. But that doesn’t mean anything. There are a lot of black people in Ferguson, Missouri, but that doesn’t mean we run the place.”
West and Chappelle have crossed creative paths in the past, most notably during the early years of West’s rap career, where the musician appeared on the Comedy Central series “Chappelle’s Show” as a musical guest. West also performed during an event Chappelle did in New York in 2004, which was made into the documentary film “Dave Chappelle’s Block Party.”
This was Chappelle’s third time hosting “Saturday Night Live,” and all three concerts took place in the same week as a controversial national election. It seems as if show creator and host Lorne Michaels has carved out the standup as “SNL’s” immediate post-election anchor for important moments in the country’s political history. After Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election, Chappelle hosted the show for the first time, with his standup monologue highlighting his concern for the future of the country while imploring the audience to give Trump’s presidency a chance . Four years later, during the series affected by COVID-19, Chappelle hosted for the second time following a presidential election that saw current President Joe Biden oust Trump from the presidency.
Regarding this year’s election, he mocked Herschel Walker and the so-called “End of the Trump Era.”
Later in the episode, there was a barbershop-themed sketch that also discussed current events, including more on West, Walker, the election, and pop culture obsessions like “Yellowstone” and “Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” by Netflix.
