Dave Chappelle dropped a surprise new Netflix special on Friday night, where he spoke candidly about Charlie Kirk, American politics and his recent performance at the Riyadh Comedy Festival in Saudi Arabia.
The special, titled Dave Chappelle: The Unstoppable…, was filmed in his hometown of Washington, D.C., in October, and landed on the service without much warning following the Jake Paul vs. Anthony Joshua fight.
Taking the stage in a camo jacket with Colin Kaepernick’s name and number on the back, Chappelle declared, “We’ve got a lot to talk about,” and explained he wanted to come back to Washington, D.C., after Trump deployed the National Guard to the city. “They’re trying to take the chocolate out of Chocolate City. I said, ‘I’ve got to go home while it’s still a city I remember,’” he told the crowd. “And I came here mad, ready to fight, but when I drove through the city — it looks clean guys, I’ve got to tell you.”
He then went deep on his decision to perform in Saudi Arabia, acknowledging “I’ve been getting a lot of grief” and specifically calling out Bill Maher: “I’ve never said this publicly but fuck that guy. I’m so fucking tired of his little smug, cracker-ass commentary.”
Chappelle declared, “I don’t feel guilty at all” and continued, “These motherfuckers act like because I did a comedy festival in Saudi Arabia I somehow betrayed my principles… They said, ‘Well, Saudi Arabia killed a journalist’ and rest in peace Jamal Khashoggi. I’m sorry that he got murdered in such a heinous fashion. And also, look bro, Israel’s killed 240 journalists in the last three months so I didn’t know y’all were still counting.”
He reiterated his past statement that “it’s easier to talk in Saudi Arabia for me than it is in America,” saying he was nearly canceled in the U.S. several years ago for his jokes about the trans community. The comedian added, “But I’ve gotta tell you something — transgender jokes went over very well in Saudi Arabia,” while joking that he no longer works at Netflix and his new job is to “sit by the phone and wait for them Arabs to call me.”
Chappelle also cited Jimmy Kimmel’s recent suspension as an example of free speech being limited in the U.S., and coyly suggested he made $6 million for the appearance.
“I’ll take money from Saudi Arabia any day just so I can say no over here. It feels good to be free,” he continued. “And I know that the people in Saudi Arabia can’t say all the things that I was allowed to say. But a deal’s a deal, and the king said that I could say these things. So I looked at it like I was on a diplomatic mission: I’ve gotta bring pussy jokes to the Middle East.”
Later in the show, Chappelle commented on Charlie Kirk’s assassination, saying, “This is another reason it’s hard to talk in America, because if you talk for a living and see Charlie Kirk get murdered that way, I’m gonna be honest, I was shook.” He added that when initial (later walked back) reports came out that trans messages were inscribed on the bullets shot at Kirk, “I was at home like, ‘Oh no! I’m dead as fried chicken.’” The comedian also noted that people were saying, “Charlie Kirk is this generation’s Martin Luther King. No, he’s not. That’s a reach. They both got murdered in a terrible fashion, they both got shot in the neck, but that’s about where those similarities end.”
Throughout the set, Chappelle touched on Sean Combs being sentenced to prison, saying that, “When I got attacked in L.A. at the Hollywood Bowl, people forget that Puff was the guy that tackled my attacker. He saved my life,” and it’s “hard to be mad at him after that.” He also said of Combs’ ex-girlfriend Cassie, who testified during the trial, “God bless her. I’m not making light of her; what she went through was terrible.”
Chappelle closed the show by telling the crowd, “D.C., no matter how much this government or anyone else puts pressure on you, keep your wits about you. I’m here just to remind you that we are a community and we will stay sane together. We will take care of each other, and we will wait” Trump out. He added that he was worried his voice would be co-opted, and wanted a code word so that he could signal to fans that people had gotten to him. “It’s got to be something that I would never say — oh, I know what the code is. The code word is, ‘I stand with Israel.’”
