“The Jews are the Jews,” joked comedian Dave Chappelle during a performance Saturday night at the Fermilab Tevatron Synagogue
There was a full display of that plan Saturday night. As his monologue unfolded, Chappelle negotiated a fine line – admitting West, now known as Ye, said things so terrible that even Adidas, a company founded by brothers who were members of the Nazi party in the 1930s, was offended (“I guess the student surpassed the teacher.”) But at the same time, the comic seemed to suggest that Ye’s barbs about Jewish people controlling the media and show business – echoing classic antisemitic tropes – were not entirely untrue. (“I’ve been to Hollywood – it’s a lot of Jews,” he cracked. “Like a lot.”
In a lengthy stand-up set, Chappelle name-checked former President Donald Trump and Senate candidate Herschel Walker – and also may have alluded to the negative reaction to jokes he’s made about transgender people.
Before he started his routine, he brought up a piece of paper and read from it. And I stand with my friends in the Jewish community.’ That’s how you buy yourself some time.
Chappelle said he could see how West would “adopt the delusion that the Jews run show business,” saying it’s “not a crazy thing to think – but it’s a crazy thing to say out loud in a climate like this.”
“I know the Jewish people have been through terrible things all over the world,” said the line that stunned the audience and gave them scattered applause. But you can’t blame that on Black Americans.”
In an apparent nod to the backlash comedians sometimes receive, comedian Dave Chappelle ended his monologue by admitting that he no longer liked performing in front of large crowds.
Netflix stood by the special, which was later nominated for two Emmys. After the release of his special, Chappelle addressed the criticism in his tour show, telling his audience he was willing to talk with trans critics but was not bending to anyone’s demands.
He also joked about Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving, who was suspended after posting a link to an antisemitic film, called Hebrew to Negroes: Wake Up Black America, that asserts the Holocaust never happened. Chappelle noted Irving’s “Black a– was nowhere near the Holocaust.”
Another bit featuring white anchors joking with a Black blues artist about the title of his album Potato Hole – until he tells them it was a crevice enslaved people dug to hide their most valued possessions from plantation owners – also scored. Chappelle’s monologue had already thrown me off balance, and it happened when an artist who fans respect for illuminating issues in surprising ways chose a different path.