Dave Chappelle Addresses Kanye West During His Extended 'Saturday Night Live' Monologue

Dave Chappelle addressed everything from the downfall of Kanye West and Kyrie Irving to the weakened state of Donald Trump during his monologue on Saturday Night Live.

 Dave Chappelle made his return to Saturday Night Live. And like his previous times hosting SNL, Chappelle started his appearance with an extended monologue. For more than 10 minutes, Chappelle addressed everything from the downfall of Kanye West and Kyrie Irving to the weakened state of Donald Trump after the red wave didn't materialize during the 2022 midterms.

 Chappelle, who is not one for wasting time, started with West right away. He walked out and said:

 “I wanted to read a statement I prepared: I renounce antisemitism in all its forms and stand with my friends in the Jewish community. And that, Kanye, is how you buy yourself some time.” 

Chappelle spent the next five minutes on West, making jokes about how West thought he was untouchable... until Adidas dropped him. 

Probably the joke that went closest to the edge was when Chappelle said:

 “I’ve been to Hollywood and this is what I saw. It’s a lot of Jews, it’s 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.”

 While Chappelle addressed Kanye's controversy, he steered clear of his own. This was the first time Chappelle hosted SNL since he released his controversial The Closer special and he didn't address any of the backlash he received. (Upon its release, The Closer was derided by critics for its transphobic jokes, while employees inside of Netflix protested the streamer airing the show.) It should be noted that earlier in the week there were reports writers on the show were boycotting the show.

 This is the third time Chappelle has hosted SNL. The last time Chappelle hosted was in 2020, just days after the presidential election. Before that, he hosted the show days after the 2016 election, when Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton. During that monologue,Chappelle infamously said that he was willing to give Trump a chance. (Chappelle would later publicly regret that decision. A year later he said,during a benefit, “I fucked up. I’m sorry.”)

This time Chappelle is hosting just days after the midterms. He would lightly touch on politics during his monologue, cracking jokes about Georgia senate candidate Herschel Walker — who is headed to a runoff against Raphael Warnock — and about the Trump era bring over. Chappelle is not convinced, saying that Ohio, where he lives, "Trump" is "very loved.”

Watch his monologue below.