Dave Chappelle tells Bay Area audience that SNL censored him during recent host stint
Dave Chapelle said he was barred from speaking about Gaza or the transgender community during his recent Saturday Night Live appearance.
Chapelle, 51, performed a stand-up show at the Masonic in San Francisco on Thursday. Just days before returning to Studio 8H stage for SNL’s star-studded 50th-anniversary special, the comedian said he was censored by the show’s producers last month.
SFGATES’s senior culture editor, Dan Gentile, who was in the audience, said that it marked the gig’s “big interesting revelation.”
“‘SNL’ producers told him he couldn’t speak about two topics: transgender people and Gaza, a shocking stroke of censorship, given the political nature of the monologue,” Gentile wrote.
And during his San Francisco set, Chapelle “didn’t go on to elaborate much more on Gaza except to close with ‘Give the Jews a break, free Palestine’ before literally dropping the mic,” the journalist added.
The Independent has contacted NBCUniversal for more information.
On Janaury 18, Chapelle hosted SNL for a fourth time, less than 48 hours before Donald Trump’s inauguration and a day before the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal came into force.
Chappelle began his monologue by discussing the Los Angeles fires before moving on to his absence from Sean “Diddy” Combs’ “freak offs” — and giving Trump advice for returning to his old gig on Monday.
“The presidency is no place for petty people,” Chappelle said, before speaking directly to the incoming commander-in-chief and delivering a pointed message.
“Donald Trump, I know you watch the show. Man, remember whether people voted for you or not, they're all counting on you. Whether they like you or not, they’re all counting on you. The whole world is counting on you,” he said.
“I mean this when I say this: Good luck. Please do better next time. Please all of us, do better next time. Do not forget your humanity and please have empathy for displaced people, whether they’re in the Palisades or Palestine.”
When SNL producers contacted Chappelle to host an episode this season, he initially refused but decided it would be a good opportunity to get rid of his old Trump jokes and start fresh, the comedian quipped. He asked for the date closest to January 6.
Chapelle has come under fire for his jokes and remarks against the transgender community in recent years.
According to a new report by Vulture, Chapelle mocked a nonbinary SNL writer during dress rehearsal in his 2022 appearance.
One allegedly transphobic joke was cut from his 2022 monologue after Lorne Michaels, who runs the series, is said to have managed to dissuade Chapelle over fears it could damage relationships with the show’s staff, per the report.
Despite the incident, Michaels forgave Chapelle and invited him back to host the first show of 2025.
