Dave Chappelle returned to the Saturday Night Live stage clad in a sharp suit, smoking a cigarette, and armed with an array of searing jokes touching on the presidential election, the Los Angeles wildfires, Sean Diddy Combs, and President-elect Donald Trump, whom the veteran comedian wished for success in his second term.
“The presidency is no place for petty people. So, Donald Trump, I know you watch the show. Remember, whether people voted for you or not, they’re all counting on you,” Chappelle said, after jokingly saying he knows Mr. Trump watches the show. “Whether they like you or not, they’re all counting on you. The whole world is counting on you.”
“I mean this when I say this: Good luck. Please, do better next time. Please, all of us, do better next time,” Chappelle continued. “Do not forget your humanity. And please, have empathy for displaced people, whether they’re in the Palisades or Palestine.”
Those were the last lines of his nearly 20-minute monologue.
Chappelle started his act by explaining how he initially told SNL creator Lorne Michaels he didn’t want to host the first episode after the election, as he did in 2016 and in 2020. After repeatedly telling Michaels no, Chappelle said he had an epiphany: “You know what? I could just get rid of all these old Trump jokes. I’ll do it!” he said, adding “The moment I said yes, L.A. burst into flames!”
Chappelle, who lives in Ohio, one town over from Springfield (more on that later), noted how the deadly L.A. fires broke his heart. He also realized how the negative comments online lambasting the many celebrities who lost their homes reminded him why he hates poor people: “Because they can’t see past their own pain.”
“The other day on the news, they said these fires were the most expensive tragedy that ever happened in the United States’ history. I think that’s because people in L.A. have nice stuff. I could burn 40,000 acres in Mississippi for like six or seven dollars,” Chappelle joked. “If you were a rational, thinking person, you’d have to at least consider the possibility that God hates these people.”
Chappelle later turned his attention to Trump and his comments about Haitians in Springfield, Ohio, last year.
“Trump’s a wild guy. He said the Haitians in Springfield, Ohio, were eating people’s dogs and cats. I live one town over from Springfield. That’s not what happened in Springfield at all,” Chappelle said. He said he wanted to show his support to the Haitian immigrants to let them know they were welcome. “Every day I’d drive over to Springfield and eat lunch at the Haitian restaurant,” Chappelle said, pausing, “And to be honest with you, I don’t know what that meat was. But whatever it was, it fell right off the bone.”
Chappelle said he realized in the worst way why he didn’t know about Diddy’s “Freak Off” orgy parties. “Oh my god, I’m ugly! That’s a tough way to find out,” he joked. “Can you imagine if you were me reading the newspaper finding out: everyone in Hollywood had an orgy behind your back?”
Jerome Hudson is Breitbart News Entertainment Editor and author of the book 50 Things They Don’t Want You to Know About Trump. Order your copy today. Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter and instagram@jeromeehudson
