Dave Chappelle Accused of Co-Signing Kanye’s Anti-Semitism In Controversial SNL …

Few artists in the past decade have generated more controversy than Dave Chappelle and Kanye West.

So when Chappelle hosted Saturday Night Live this week, it came as no surprise that the comic addressed Kanye’s recent hate speech in his opening monologue.

At 15 minutes in length, Chappelle’s monologue was almost more like a mini-standup special, and like most of the comedian’s work, it quickly found a large audience on social media.

On YouTube, the performance has been viewed 4.9 million times, making it roughly twice as popular as any previous SNL video from the past year.

But while that’s good news for the long-running sketch show (that’s often accused of being stagnant and out of touch with today’s audiences), many critics believe it’s bad news for the global Jewish community.

With a growing number of high-profile public figures making anti-semitic remarks — including West and Brooklyn Nets forward Kyrie Irving who was suspended by the team following a bigoted tweet — these are very tense times for millions of marginalized people.

And while Chappelle condemned Kanye’s remarks in his monologue, many believe that the comic poured fuel on the fires of hatred by perpetuating the idea that Jews control the world’s media outlets.

“We shouldn’t expect @DaveChappelle to serve as society’s moral compass, but disturbing to see @nbcsnl not just normalize but popularize #antisemitism,” Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt tweeted in response to the monologue.

“Why are Jewish sensitivities denied or diminished at almost every turn? Why does our trauma trigger applause?”

“The American comedian Dave Chappelle said during his SNL monologue that he ‘denounces antisemitism in all its forms’…before promptly engaging in antisemitic tropes,” the Jerusalem Post tweeted.

“That Dave Chappelle SNL monologue probably did more to normalize anti-Semitism than anything Kanye said. Everyone knows Kanye is nuts,” wrote Time Out New York theater editor and critic Adam Feldman.

“Chappelle posits himself as a teller of difficult truths. It’s worse.”

Chappelle was defended by some Jewish viewers, including Tangle News founder Isaac Saul, who tweeted:

“Let me be the first Jew to say: Dave Chappelle’s SNL open last night was hilarious, timely, honest, and a reminder that he still understands this country better than a lot of people whose whole job is to understand the country.

“It’s okay to acknowledge there are a lot of Jews in media and Hollywood. And like Dave said, you can simultaneously note that it’s very stupid to think this means they are in some cabal controlling the world.”

While most of Chappelle’s comments were intended as jokes, many believed that the comic subtly expressed approval for Kanye’s anti-semitism with comments such as the following:

“I’ve been to Hollywood…this is 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. Doesn’t mean they run the place.”

Chappelle added that he understood how somebody could “adopt the delusion” that Jewish people “run show business,” saying:

“It’s not a crazy thing to think. But it’s a crazy thing to say out loud in a climate like this.”

Referencing the controversial tweet that got Irving suspended from the Nets, Chappelle had this to say:

“He was slow to apologize. And then the list of demands to get back in their 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.”

Many noted that Chappelle’s comments were not as ignorant or hateful as Kanye’s — but that’s a very low bar.

The comic has yet to publicly respond to the backlash over his latest material.

Dave Chappelle Accused of Co-Signing Kanye’s Anti-Semitism In Controversial SNL … was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip .