Dave Chapelle devoted a portion of his Saturday Night Live opening monologue to addressing Kanye “Ye” West‘s antisemitic comments and found himself in hot water with the Anti-Defamation League.
Chappelle began by stating, “I denounce antisemitism in all its forms. And I stand with my friends in the Jewish community,” before adding, “And that, Kanye, is how you buy yourself some time.”
Chappelle also discussed the controversy around Kyrie Irving, who recently was suspended from the Brooklyn Nets for at least five games after he shared a link to the documentary Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America — a film that is believed to contain antisemitic sentiments.
“He was slow to apologize,” said Chappelle, before stating, “The demands to get back in their good graces got longer and longer, and this is where I draw the line: I know the Jewish people have been through terrible things all over the world, but you can’t blame that on Black Americans. You just can’t.”
Chappelle went on to suggest that the “delusion that Jews run show business” is “not a crazy thing to think,” but “it’s a crazy thing to say out loud.”
Jonathan Greenblatt, the head of the Jewish civil rights organization, took to Twitter shortly after the show to accuse Chappelle of normalizing and popularizing antisemitism.
“Why are Jewish sensitivities denied or diminished at almost every turn? Why does our trauma trigger applause?” Greenblatt wrote.
Influencer Rabbi Josh Yuter tweeted, “the key point” of the monologue was that “there are double standards regarding who can say what about whom.”
The Jerusalem Post characterized the monologue as “engaging in antisemitic tropes,” while Adam Feldman of Time Out New York said the monologue “probably did more to normalize [antisemitism] than anything Kanye said.”
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