Chappelle Was Right (Yair Rosenberg)

[Mosby]

As I watched Dave Chappelle’s much-discussed Saturday Night Live monologue poking fun at recent anti-Semitic incidents involving Black celebrities, I finally figured out why I no longer felt comfortable cracking jokes about anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.

In his 15-minute appearance, Chappelle, a habitual line-stepper, deliberately mocked the presumptions of both anti-Semites and their critics, with little concern for where the chips fell. He closed his potent performance with a pronouncement: “It shouldn’t be this scary to talk about anything. It’s making my job incredibly difficult, and to be honest with you, I’m getting sick of talking to a crowd like this. I love you to death, and I thank you for your support, and I hope they don’t take anything away from me—whoever they are.” In context, this felt like a cheap but clever attempt to immunize himself against criticism—say nothing, and his comedic choices go unchallenged; say something, and you’ve proved him right.

That said, Chappelle is correct that it’s become more difficult to poke fun at anti-Semitism in front of an audience, but not because some censorious Jewish cabal is looking over the shoulder of Netflix’s multimillion-dollar man. The problem, I realized, is that as anti-Semitism and related conspiracy theories become more normalized in our discourse, laughing about them becomes harder, because you never know who might not get the joke.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/11/why-its-become-harder-to-joke-about-anti-semitism/672120/

[LonePirate]

1. For obvious reasons, the rise of anti-Semitism in this country is very disturbing.

The right wing has been fanning these flames of bigotry for a while now and they have caught on with enough people that I fear violence is very likely in the next couple of years. Those are some dark clouds on the horizon.

[JohnSJ]

2. It isn't funny. There was a time when people thought Archie Bunker was "cute", and how

the Lionel character subtly mocking Bunker’s stereotype assumptions went over his head, until one episode Lionel finally said enough is enough

Well, the time is long past due. Racism, antisemitism, sexism, bigotry, etc. isn’t funny anymore. It never was

[JustAnotherGen]

3. Its not funny to me

I watched on demand. The only "joke I got" was the Ferguson / Hollywood analogy. I didn't laugh out loud - but I got the statement. It just wasn't funny.

This is someone who loved his black white supremacist (Clayton Bixby), music by race, and race lottery skits.


This rise in anti-Semitism is insidious and sneaky. It's not a laughing matter.

[Behind the Aegis]

4. And it seems he knew what he was doing...

Dave Chappelle Apparently Tricked “Saturday Night Live” Staff By Performing A “Fake” Monologue In The Dress Rehearsal Before Revealing New Antisemitic Material Live On Air

Dave Chappelle hosted Saturday Night Live last weekend and was unable to escape controversy.

If you’ve been online in the past few days, you might have read some of the backlash surrounding Chappelle’s SNL appearance, but if not, here’s why people are upset.

First, it’s important to note that the comedian’s hosting gig was shrouded in controversy even before he took to the stage, with reports surfacing late last week suggesting that a number of SNL writers were furious that he’d been selected to host.

“They’re not going to do the show,” an insider told Page Six last week, referring to a number of writers. A representative for Chapelle has since denied this, stating that there was “no evidence of a boycott.”

more...

Seems to me, he knew EXACTLY what he was doing and did it because he KNEW he would not be allowed to make those "jokes".

[JustAnotherGen]

5. Deliberately shitty