American comedy superstar Dave Chappelle dove deep into the recent claims of antisemitism surrounding black personalities Kanye West and NBA player Kyrie Irving during his opening monologue as host of Saturday Night Live.
“Before I start tonight, I just wanted to read a brief statement that I prepared. ‘I denounce antisemitism in all its forms, and I stand with my friends in the Jewish community.’ And that, Kanye, is how you buy yourself some time,” said Chappelle at the outset of his monologue.
“It’s a big deal. [Kanye West] had broken show business rules,” added Chappelle referring to West’s recent tirades against Jews in Hollywood. “This is a rule. You know the rules of perception: if they’re black then it’s a gang, if they’re Italian it’s a mob, but if they’re Jewish it’s a coincidence and you should never speak about it.”
Chappelle noted how he had never heard anyone do anything good after using the phrase ‘the Jews.’
“I’ve been to Hollywood and I don’t want y’all to get mad at me, this is just what I saw: It’s a lot of Jews. Like a lot. But that doesn’t mean anything. There’s a lot of black people in Ferguson, Missouri, but that doesn’t mean we run the place.’
‘I just feel if you go out to Hollywood you might connect some kind of lines and come under the delusion that the Jews run Hollywood. It’s not a crazy thing to think. But it’s a crazy thing to say out loud at a time like this,” added Chappelle.
"You know the rules of perception: if they’re black then it’s a gang, if they’re Italian it’s a mob, but if they’re Jewish it’s a coincidence and you should never speak about it.”
Dave Chappelle
Additionally, Chappelle spoke about Irving and the film, Hebrews to Negros, which the basketball player promoted on Twitter and prompted his suspension. The film uses anti-Jewish tropes and asserts that black people, not Jews, are the true Israelites.
Regarding the NBA demand for a public apology from Irving, Chappelle said, “the list of demands to get back in their [the NBA's] good graces got longer and longer, and this is where… I draw the line. I know the Jewish people have been through terrible things all over the world, but you can’t blame that on black Americans. You just can’t.”