Dave Chappelle Tackles the L.A. Fires and Sends a Direct Message to Donald Trump in SNL Monologue — Watch
Stand-up comic Dave Chappelle returned to Saturday Night Live this week as host, and he took the opportunity to get a few things off his chest.
In a sprawling, 16-minute monologue, Chappelle admitted from the start: “I’m in quite the pickle tonight.” He recalled that SNL boss Lorne Michaels had been asking him to host the show again, and he kept saying no and putting it off, and then “the moment I said yes, L.A. burst into flames.” He claimed at first that “it is way too soon to do jokes about a catastrophe like that” — before sharing a sly wink with the audience.
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He got serious, though, as he sympathized with the L.A. residents who lost their homes in the recent wildfires, including his friends and castmates like actors Cary Elwes and Dennis Quaid and rapper Madlib. He also took aim at online commenters who jeered at the L.A. victims saying things like “Serves these celebrities right!” Chappelle said those comments helped him realize: “That’s why I hate poor people.”
He also cited a report that called the fires the most expensive natural disaster in American history, and it makes sense to him: “People in L.A. have nice stuff. I could burn 40,000 acres in Mississippi for six or seven hundred dollars.” Plus, he dismissed a theory that the fires were punishment from God to the “Sodomites” of Los Angeles: “That’s not true, because West Hollywood was unscathed. How can you burn what is already flaming?”
Chappelle then turned his focus to incoming president Donald Trump, remembering how upset he got when Trump and his allies spread rumors about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio eating dogs and cats. Chappelle himself lives in Ohio, just one town over from Springfield, and he stood up for the immigrants, offering his support by eating lunch at the local Haitian restaurant… but, he admitted, “I don’t know what that meat was.”
Embattled music mogul Diddy also drew a few punchlines from Chappelle, who marveled that Diddy is “in an enormous amount of trouble… They got this guy in a RICO case by himself!” Chappelle claimed he didn’t know about Diddy’s infamous freak-off parties, and when he found out they were going on without him, he realized, “Oh my gosh… I’m ugly. That was a tough way to find that out.” In fact, he can’t believe that “Carl Winslow from Family Matters” got invited and he didn’t. But he does understand why he never got an invite: “I have snitch energy.”
Chappelle wrapped things up by remembering the late Jimmy Carter, who once insisted on walking through Palestinian territory, even though Israel said they couldn’t protect him. “I don’t know if that’s a good president,” Chappelle said, “but that right there, I’m sure, is a great man.” He then made a direct appeal to Trump: “The presidency is no place for petty people. Donald Trump, I know you watch the show. Whether people voted for you or not, they’re all counting on you.” He urged all of us to “do better next time” — and to “please have empathy for displaced people, whether they’re in the Palisades or Palestine.”
Press PLAY below to watch the monologue in full, and give this week’s SNL a grade in our poll.
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