Dave Chappelle made his return to Saturday Night Live.
The 49-year-old controversial comedian hosted the sketch comedy show for the third time over the weekend – and began his gig with a nearly 15-minute long monologue tackling a bunch of hot-button topics that have captured headlines over the weeks, including Kanye West’s antisemitism controversy.
Related: Amy Schumer Called Kanye West A ‘Nazi’ In SNL Opening Monologue
Right from the start, he issued a brief message to the audience. However, do not expect him to apologize for the offensive jokes about the transgender community he made in his Netflix special The Closer! People were already outraged about Dave hosting SNL following the controversy, plus some writers were reportedly even sitting out this episode, considering many cast members are part of the LGBTQIA+ community, and this season has its first nonbinary star, Molly Kearney. You would think he’d take a second to also acknowledge his transphobic and homophobic remarks at this point, but that did not happen.
He began the monologue, by saying:
“Before I start tonight, I just wanted to read a brief statement that I prepared. I have denounced antisemitism in all its forms, and I stand with my friends in the Jewish community. And that, Kanye, is how you buy yourself some time.”
Dave continued:
“I got to tell you guys, I probably been doing this 35 years now, and early in my career, I learned that there were two words in the English language that you should never say together in sequence, and those words are ‘The’ and ‘Jews.’ I’ve never heard someone do good after they said that.”
The actor went on to recall his reaction to Kanye’s comment on Twitter, where he threatened to go “death con 3 on Jewish people” and soon lost out on lucrative deals with brands like Balenciaga and Adidas:
“Ironically, Adidas was founded by Nazis, and they were offended! I guess the student surpassed the teacher.”
Dave then made some very controversial jokes as he said:
“He had broken the show business rules. You know, the rules of perception. If they’re Black, then it’s a gang. If they’re Italian, it’s a mob. If they’re Jewish, it’s a coincidence and you should never speak about it.”
And that wasn’t all. He also remarks at one point:
“I’ve been to Hollywood, this is just what I saw. It’s a lot of Jews. Like a lot. There’s a lot of Black people in Ferguson, Missouri, doesn’t mean they run the place. You might go out in Hollywood and you might start connecting some kind of lines and you might adopt the delusion that Jews run show business. It’s not a crazy thing to think but it’s a crazy thing to say out loud.”
Dave didn’t just mock Kanye – he also touched on Brooklyn Nets player Kyrie Irving who came under fire after posting a link to an antisemitic movie on social media, saying:
“He was slow to apologize. The 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 some terrible things all over the world. But you can’t blame that on Black Americans.”
Unsurprisingly, Dave’s monologue drew mixed reactions from social media users, with some saying he played into the same antisemitic tropes and conspiracies that Kanye has spewed over the weeks that he was supposedly ridiculing in this piece. But he seemed to know he’d be in the hot seat again with his monologue while he seemingly alluding to his transphobic comments:
“It shouldn’t be this scary to talk about anything. It’s making my job incredibly difficult. And to be honest with you, I’m getting sick of talking to a crowd like this. I love you to death and I thank you for your support. And I hope they don’t take anything away from me — whoever they are.”
You can watch the monologue (below), where he also talked about the midterm elections, Herschel Walker, and Donald Trump.
Elsewhere in the show, Black Star made their SNL debut as the night’s musical guests, performing two songs, So Be It and the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. Watch their entire performances below:
What did YOU think about the opening monologue, Perezcious readers? Let us know in the comments. You can also check out the rest of the night’s sketches and performances below:
[Image via Saturday Night Live/YouTube, WENN]
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