'SNL' Gives Dave Chappelle the Stage to Address Kanye West's Anti-Semitism in Monologue

'SNL' Gives Dave Chappelle the Stage to Address Kanye West's Anti-Semitism in Monologue,Saturday Night Live welcomes Dave Chappelle back as host this week, his third appearance in recent years amid triumph and controversy for the comedian. Chappelle will be joined by legendary rap duo Black Star, Yasiin Bey – also known as Mos Def – and Talib Kweli. The Comedy Central alum is no [...]

‘SNL’ Gives Dave Chappelle the Stage to Address Kanye West’s Anti-Semitism in Monologue

Saturday Night Live welcomes Dave Chappelle back as host this week, his third appearance in recent years amid triumph and controversy for the comedian. Chappelle will be joined by legendary rap duo Black Star, Yasiin Bey – also known as Mos Def – and Talib Kweli. The Comedy Central alum is no stranger to the duo, with Bey having appeared in several sketches on Chappelle’s Show, while Kweli was a performer.

In the promos for this week’s episode, Chappelle joked that SNL will be “so Black, it will be on BET!” He quickly corrected to say it would still be on NBC, mostly because you never know who will believe what these days. His monologue kicked off, not focusing on his own controversies but focusing on Kanye West instead.

He starts by reading a quick statement decrying anti-Semitism, then shifts to telling West that the statement is how he would “buy some time.” He then follows along the timeline of West’s comments about Jewish people, talks about his 3 a.m. tweet about “death con 3” and then moves on to Adidas dropping West. He also makes clear that Adidas got its start with the Nazis and even they were offended.

The timing also continues a mini-tradition for Chappelle, coming on the heels of an election in the U.S. back on Tuesday. It is a midterm election, so don’t expect too much bad juju if he says to give Donald Trump or Ron DeSantis “a chance,” which got him in some online outrage in 2016.

It’s the kind of outrage that seems tame compared to where Chappelle finds himself today. This will be his first national TV appearance since Chris Rock’s Oscars incident with Will Smith, his own at the Hollywood Bowl, and the ongoing backlash to his jokes and comments on transgender people.

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The controversy reportedly prompted several staff writers at the show to opt out of creating sketches for this week’s episode. According to Page Six, none of the actors are boycotting, but some others with the show were vocal about being uncomfortable with the host’s third appearance. Still, representatives for Chappelle denied any boycott was happening and countered with the comedian meeting with them earlier in the week.

“There was no evidence of a boycott,” the rep reportedly said. “The room was full of writers. They all pitched ideas and they seemed very excited about it. Dave is looking to have some fun.” One writer, Celeste Yim, did speak out in a now-deleted Instagram story post, but didn’t name Chappelle or anybody connected to the show. “I’m trans and non-binary. I use they/them pronouns. Transphobia is murder and it should be condemned,” they wrote.