Taking to the main stage at NBC’s Studio 8H on Saturday night, comedian Dave Chappelle used his monologue as the host of this week’s “Saturday Night Live” to talk about the news, but declined to discuss anything. relates to recent anti-trans jokes he’s told that have sparked controversy. .
Chappelle sparked anger last year after the October release of “The Closer,” which included the 49-year-old comedian’s damaging remarks about the transgender community and prompted an immediate backlash from Netflix staff. This included an organized outing by Netflix’s transgender employees and allies after the streamer’s chief content officer, Ted Sarandos, defended Chappelle’s harmful jokes as artistic expression, supporting his “creative freedom”.
Instead, Chappelle spent the first part of his monologue commenting on rapper Kanye West’s recent anti-Semitic remarks, beginning by saying, “I wanted to read a statement I had prepared: I renounce anti-Semitism in any way. its forms and I support my friends in the Jewish community. And that, Kanye, is how you save time. He then mocked Kanye’s anti-Semitic posts, as well as Kyrie Irving’s recent anti-Semitic scandal and apology.
Chappelle also made a few jokes that had the audience gasping, including: “I went to Hollywood and this is what I saw: there are a lot of Jews, that’s a lot. 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 before, most notably during West’s early rap career, in which the musician appeared on the Comedy Central series “Chappelle’s Show” as a musical guest. West also performed at an event Chappelle hosted in New York in 2004, which was made into the documentary film “Dave Chappelle’s Block Party”.
It was Chappelle’s third stint on “Saturday Night Live,” and all three concerts took place in the same week as a contentious national election. It seems series creator and showrunner Lorne Michaels has etched the stand-up as “SNL’s” immediate post-election host for major moments in the country’s political history. Following Donald Trump’s victory in the 2016 presidential election, Chappelle hosted the show for the first time, with the stand-up monologue highlighting his concern about the future of the country, but also imploring the audience to give a luck in the presidency of Trump. Four years later, during the show’s COVID-impacted season, Chappelle hosted for the second time after a presidential election that saw current President Joe Biden ousting Trump from the presidency.
Regarding this year’s election, he poked fun at Herschel Walker and the so-called “end of the Trump era.”
Later in the episode, there was a barbershop-themed skit that also discussed current affairs, including more about West, Walker, the election, as well as pop culture obsessions like “Yellowstone and Netflix’s “Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story.” ”