After a quiet few years with only occasional public appearances, Dave Chappelle took the Saturday Night Live (SNL) stage to enthusiastic cheers and whistles. After thanking the audience a few times, he warned the audience that “it’s been a long time, so please be patient,” before diving into his opening monologue as if he had done a comedy routine the day before.
As he continued, it was clear that SNL could not have picked a better person to host the first show after an intensely divisive election. Chappelle’s voice was refreshing and gently poked fun at both the raucous outrage of white liberals (“I haven’t seen white people this mad since the O.J. verdict,” he quipped) and the unnoticed racism of America (When he heard the Cincinnati police say that shooting Harambe was the hardest decision they had to make, Chappelle deadpanned, “Well then, you’re about to see a lot of n***ers in gorilla costumes in Cincinnati”).
He humorously criticized the Blue Lives Matter countermovement, reminding his audience that while police officers can switch occupations, he and other African Americans can not quit being black. And after all the levity and gentle criticism, Chappelle delivered a stirring anecdote about how historically disenfranchised people have been welcomed and celebrated in the White House, as opposed to when Frederick Douglass had to be escorted into the White House by the president.
Chapelle stated that the welcoming “made me feel hopeful, and it made me feel proud to be an American.” It also allowed him the opportunity to offer Donald Trump a chance, because Chappelle and “the historically disenfranchised demand that he give [them] one, too.” His conclusion was a touching way to avoid further widening rifts in an already conflicted America.
