Dave Chappelle reflects on his SNL comments to ‘give Trump a chance’
Dave Chappelle went on The Late Show last night to promote his August residency at Radio City Music Hall.
While speaking with Colbert, Chappelle touched on a variety of different issues and was pressed by the Late Night host about comments Dave made about Trump back in November during a Saturday Night Live monologue.
When Colbert asked him how he sees Trump now, Chappelle responded in typically hilarious, but thoughtful, fashion:
“It’s not like I wanted to give him a chance that night… In the last six months, I think we’re all getting an education about the presidency. I don’t know if I’ve ever heard just in popular discourse people discussing ethics this much. I didn’t even realize how ethics was supposed to work at that level of government. And he’s putting all this stuff at the forefront.”
To which Colbert cracked, “Well, nobody really talks about oxygen until someone’s got their hands around your throat.”
But Chappelle went on to make an interesting point about the Trump presidency. Through all the scandals, the ridiculous quotes, and the constant barrage of news from the Trump administration, people are paying more attention to politics than ever before.
Dave told Colbert that Trump is making the American voter smarter,
“I think [Trump]’s gonna make a more informed and better voter. He’s a polarizing dude. He’s like a bad DJ at a good party.”
Ain’t that the truth.
The monologue Colbert and Chappelle were talking about was from back in November, when Dave hosted the SNL directly after that fateful election.
A lot of people were scared and shocked by the election result that week and Chappelle took some time to reflect on the last eight years of the Obama presidency, especially how it changed the outlook and attitudes of Black Americans.
Chappelle said back in November,
“I saw how happy everybody was. These people who had been historically disenfranchised. It made me feel hopeful and it made me feel proud to be an American and it made me very happy about the prospects of our country.”
He went on to make that now-famous proclamation that he wished Trump luck,
“In that spirit. I’m wishing Donald Trump luck. And I’m going to give him a chance, and we, the historically disenfranchised, demand that he give us one too.”
At the time the comments were met with some outcry, but you couldn’t really blame the guy for being hopeful (I wasn’t).
It’s safe to say it hasn’t worked out for Trumpito or America thus far.
As for Dave Chappelle, he recently added two more shows to his Radio City Music Hall residency.
The now 16-night stand includes select performances from artists like Chance the Rapper, Childish Gambino, and Erykah Badu, as well as standup from Chris Rock and Trevor Noah.
If you’re around, gotta try and catch one of these shows.