Dave Chappelle Tackles Herschel Walker, Donald Trump, Kyrie Irving And Kanye West During Topical Saturday Night Live Monologue
Comedian Dave Chappelle returned to host SNL for the third time on Saturday night. He kicked things off with a bang.
Being that the 49-year-old is one of the best stand-up comedians of all-time, the show granted him the opportunity to open with a roughly 15-minute monologue that played more like a set at one of his shows. Chappelle came out of the gate firing.
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Chappelle Came Out With A Bang
He started with a riff about Kanye West, who is widely condemned for a recent string of anti-Semitic comments. To do so, Chappelle began with a brief statement:
"I denounce antisemitism in all its forms and I stand with my friends in the Jewish community.
He then looked up and joked: "that, Kanye, is how you buy yourself some time."
From there, Chappelle spoke to Addidas' decision to drop West and his clothing line after the rapper boasted that his corporate partner would never let him go.
"Ironically, Adidas was founded by Nazis and they were offended," he said. "I guess the student surpassed the teacher."
Chappelle, who often satirizes the Black community while making larger commentary on racism in society, took a similar approach to dissect West and Kyrie Irving's anti-Semitism. He echoed a familiar sentiment that disproportionate Jewish presence within an industry does not indicate a conspiracy.
"I’ve been to Hollywood and — no one get mad at me — I’m just telling you what I saw," Chappelle said, adding one of his signature pauses. "It’s a lot of Jews. Like a lot."
The audience inside Rockefeller Center's Studio 8H laughed nervously before the comedian circled back to his punchline.
"But that doesn’t mean anything! You know what I mean? Because there are a lot of Black people in Ferguson, Missouri, it doesn’t mean we run the place."
Dave Chappelle then pivoted from Kanye, Kyrie and anti-Semitism toward the midterm elections and Donald Trump.
To open the next part of his act, he ridiculed Herschel Walker. The Republican nominee for Senate in Georgia is headed to a runoff against Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock in December and Chappelle made his opinion clear.
"I don't want to speak badly of him, because he's Black," he said about Walker. "But I have to admit, he's observably stupid."
Chappelle also explained why he thinks Donald Trump is popular with voters in areas like Ohio, the state in which he resides.
"He was loved because people in Ohio have never seen anyone like him," he said. "He’s an honest liar. He said, 'I know the system is rigged because I use it.'"
To close the abnormally-long SNL monologue, Chappelle focused his commentary on cancel culture.
"It shouldn’t be this scary to talk about anything," he said. "It’s making my job incredibly difficult. And to be honest with you, I’m 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."