Dave Chappelle swapped in new ‘SNL’ monologue at last minute, source says

A source told Page Six that the comedian delivered a ‘fake’ routine during the dress rehearsal

Dave Chappelle’s “Saturday Night Live” monologue was about antisemitism. Courtesy of NBC

By Benyamin Cohen November 16, 2022

The comedian Dave Chappelle allegedly changed his monologue between the dress rehearsal and the broadcast of “Saturday Night Live,” according to a report from Page Six. Chappelle’s 15-minute set, which tackled recent controversies surrounding Kanye West and Kyrie Irving, was seen by many as antisemitic itself.

Each week, the host of “Saturday Night Live” does a full dress rehearsal of the show, along with the cast and crew, at 8 p.m. in front of a live audience to get a feel for which sketches and jokes will work. A new audience watches the 11:30 p.m. show that is broadcast nationwide. Showrunners sometimes cut sketches and jokes depending on time constraints and the punchlines that land best during the rehearsal. Lorne Michaels, the longtime producer of the show, usually has the final word on what gets cut.

But according to the report, Chappelle performed a “fake” monologue for the earlier audience. Representatives for Chappelle and “Saturday Night Live” did not respond to Page Six’s request to comment.

Some writers at “Saturday Night Live” reportedly sat out this weekend’s show to boycott the host, comedian Dave Chapelle, who has a history of making transphobic, homophobic and antisemitic jokes.

In the monologue that aired, Chappelle said the “delusion that Jews run show business” is “not a crazy thing to think,” but “it’s a crazy thing to say out loud.” He also said of West, “It’s a big deal, he had broken the show-business rules. You know, the rules of perception. If they’re Black, then it’s a gang. If they’re Italian, it’s a mob. If they’re Jewish, it’s a coincidence and you should never speak about it.”

Chappelle also criticized the fact that Irving, a seven-time NBA all-star, was being asked to meet with Jewish leaders and members of the Brooklyn Nets before being allowed to return to the team. “This is where I draw the line,” Chappelle said. “I know the Jewish people have been through terrible things all over the world, but you can’t blame that on Black Americans.”

The response was swift and has been dominating the Jewish news cycle ever since. “He chose to make Jews, and the hatred we face, the punchline,” Carly Pildis, a Forward contributor who works for the ADL, posted on Twitter. ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said it was “disturbing to see ‘SNL’ not just normalize but popularize antisemitism.”

In addition to those who watched the live broadcast, the YouTube video for Chappelle’s monologue has been viewed more than 8 million times.

Benyamin Cohen is news director at the Forward. He is the author of two books, My Jesus Year and The Einstein Effect, and has written for The New York Times and The Washington Post. He lives with his wife in West Virginia with their three dogs, a cat and a flock of chickens known as the Co-Hens.

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