Dave Chappelle, two days before Donald Trump‘s inauguration, spoke to the president-elect during the tail end of his SNL monologue to wish him good luck, and to urge everyone to have empathy for all displaced peoples–“whether they’re in the Palisades or Palestine.”
In the comedian’s fourth time hosting since 2016, but his first on an episode that didn’t air the same week as a presidential or midterm election, Chappelle covered a lot of ground, beginning with recapping discussions with executive producer Lorne Michaels about when he would next host. When Michaels had asked him to host after November’s election, Chappelle said he replied, “Nah, man. I’m cool.”
Before Saturday, Chappelle’s most recent monologue on the late night show had been November 2022.
Chappelle said he preferred the date closest to Jan. 6, and was looking forward to “getting rid of all these old Trump jokes.”
“The moment I said yes, L.A. burst into flames,” he recalled. “And it’s a tough one, you know what I mean? Because I’m tired of being controversial. I’m trying to turn over a new leaf. And it is way too soon to do jokes about a catastrophe like that. It is.”
After noting how well-known friends of his lost their homes, Chappelle joked: “Then I go on the internet and I watch these fire videos, and I read the comment sections and everyone’s like, ‘Yeah, it serves these celebrities right! I hope their houses burn down!’ You see that? That right there? That’s why I hate poor people.”
“Because they can’t see past their own pain,” he continued, adding that damage estimates are so high “because people in L.A. have nice stuff.”
“I could burn 40,000 acres in Mississippi for $600, $700,” he joked.
The extent to which global warming, wind, and potential arsonists factored into the fires aside, Chappelle went on, there’s another theory.
“If you’re a rational, thinking person, you have to at least consider the possibility that God hates these people,” he joked. “‘Sodomites!’ No, that’s not true, because West Hollywood was unscathed. Because how can you burn that is already flaming?”
Later on, Chappelle shifted gears, riffing on rapper P Diddy‘s indictment for sex trafficking.
“A lot of my friends asked me, ‘Dave, did you know anything about those freakoff parties?’ I’d be like, ‘No, man. I don’t know anything about freakoffs.’”
Still skeptical, they would reply, “How were all these people you know at the freakoff, and you’re the only one that wasn’t at the freakoff?”
“I thought about it for a minute,” Chappelle said, pausing. “I said, ‘Oh, my god! I’m ugly!’”
“Boy, that is a tough way to find that out,” he explained. “Can you imagine, me reading the newspaper and you found out everyone in Hollywood had an orgy behind your back?”
Chappelle closed by speaking to Trump and addressing the recent death of former President Jimmy Carter:
Here’s the thing: On Monday, Donald Trump’s coming back. He’ll be the 47th president. He’s done it again. And all the flags will be half staff because Jimmy Carter died. Jimmy Carter–people go back and forth and say he was a bad president or a good president. I’m not qualified to speak on that. But I’ll tell you this: I was in the Middle East years ago after I quit my show. I was trying to find out what I wanted to do with my life.
While I was there, Jimmy Carter flew to Israel. So everybody in the region was talking about a former American president being in the Middle East. And while he was in Israel, a book of his was released, and its title was very controversial in Israel. And the title of the book was “Palestine: Peace, Not Apartheid.“
People were very mad in Israel. There were a lot of mean stories that came out in the paper. Some people were supportive. While he was there, Jimmy Carter said, ‘I want to go to the Palestinian territory’, and the Israeli government said, ‘It’s too dangerous, and if you go, we cannot protect you.’ And then Jimmy Carter went anyway.
I will never forget the images of a former American president walking with little to no security while thousands of Palestinians were cheering him on. When I saw that picture, it brought tears to my eyes. I said, I don’t know if that’s a good president, but that right there, I am sure, is a great man.
It made me feel very proud. The presidency is no place for petty people. So, 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.
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.
