Dave Chappelle returned to Saturday Night Live with what viewers are lauding as one of the strongest monologues in recent memory. He also made cast member Pete Davidson laugh hard enough to spit out his fangs during a sketch.
The comedian returned as SNL host, under different auspices than four years ago. Chappelle last hosted the show in 2016, after President Donald Trump won the presidency. With former Vice President Joe Biden’s ascendence into president-elect, a protracted election process that concluded only hours before the show, Chappelle went on a scathing run of a monologue, combining comedy with sobering overtones.
It appeared, as many viewers pointed out, that Chappelle was given free rein to say whatever he wanted.
“Remember life before COVID? I do. A mass shooting every week,” he said. Thank God for COVID. Something had to lock these murderous whites up and keep them in the house.”
Addressing Trump’s inadequate COVID response, Chappelle said: “What kind of man makes sure he is OK while his friends fight for their lives and die? A white man. I don’t mean to put this on all the whites, but I’ve been Black a long time: I’ve noticed a pattern.”
There was a portion of Chappelle’s monologue, however, that is drawing criticism, with some accusing the comedian of homophobia. “Trump getting coronavirus was like when Freddie Mercury got AIDS,” he joked at one point. “Nobody was like, how did he get it?”
“I was enjoying Dave Chappelle’s stand-up, but the Freddie Mercury joke was a bit…,” one user wrote with a cringe emoji. (Chappelle has been blasted for transphobia and homophobia in the past.)
Immediately after the monologue and a commercial break, Chappelle introduced a sketch about Aunt Jemima (Maya Rudolph) and Uncle Ben (Kenan Thompson) losing their jobs as a result of white guilt.
Chappelle is playing the Allstate guy, while Pete Davidson is playing Count Chocula, who maintains he “isn’t Black but made of chocolate.”
Chappelle breaks character and the fourth wall: “Seriously, America, look at Pete Davidson’s lips.” The moment caused Davidson to also break character and spit out his fangs.
Some viewers are calling it the best part of the night.
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