This story has been updated.
Fans of Chappelle’s Show host Dave Chappelle rejoiced on Friday when Saturday Night Live announced the stand-up comedian would host its November 12th program with musical guest A Tribe Called Quest.” Yet their excitement quickly dwindled on Saturday after a report in the New York Observer, which is owned by Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, suggested the comedy icon’s surprise Friday night show at a New York club included praise for the Republican nominee and criticism of his opponent, Hillary Clinton.
Chappelle dedicated a significant portion of the 60-minute set at The Cutting Room to the infamous Access Hollywood tape in which Trump boasted about his fame and sexual prowess with Billy Bush. According to the Observer, the comic suggested Clinton was the one who organized the tape’s release:
“What I heard on that tape was gross,” Chappelle said. “But the way I got to hear it was even more gross. You know that came directly from Hillary.” He stated this had put him off a candidate he had already known was “not right.” He likened voting for her to a hypothetical situation of actress Halle Berry breaking wind in his face during sexual relations. “I’m still going to go for it,” he said. “But I wish she hadn’t done that thing.”
If that weren’t enough to “shock” the crowd, Chappelle proceeded to defend Trump against the general assessment that he was boasting about sexually assaulting women:
“Sexual assault? It wasn’t. He said, ‘And when you’re a star, they let you do it.’ That phrase implies consent. I just don’t like the way the media twisted that whole thing. Nobody questioned it.”
The comedian also spent most of the set railing against feminism, LGTBQ activism, and other significant social issues that have dominated the political discourse for much of the 2016 election. He was especially unhappy with their prevalence when compared to racism, an ongoing problem that has reared its ugly head in countless instances of police shootings: “They should not be having that conversation in front of black people. You go ahead and feel something about your rights. But if you’re putting sexism and homophobia and transphobia in front of racism, you should be ashamed of yourself.”
Chappelle did tell his audience he’d voted early for Clinton in Ohio, but “didn’t feel good” about it. Even so, that hasn’t stopped Donald Trump Jr. and others from sharing the Observer story on social media and praising Chappelle for his words.
Mic and other outlets reached out to Chappelle and his representatives for comment. None has been given as of this writing.
UPDATE: According to TMZ, Chappelle is allegedly “angry” about the Observer‘s headline (“Dave Chappelle Defends Trump, Rips Clinton: ‘She’s Not Right and We All Know It'”) and its suggestion he supports Trump. The comic stressed he also criticized the Republican nominee just as much as he ridiculed Clinton during the set, but alleges this was left out due to “shotty journalism.”
(Via New York Observer and Mic)
