Dave Chapelle slams San Francisco on surprise comedy show: report

Entertainment

By Jane Herz

May 14, 2023 | 12:32 p.m.

Looks like Dave Chapelle isn’t too fond of the Golden State these days.

While giving a surprise performance in San Francisco on Thursday night at the Masonic Auditorium, the controversial comedian expressed his disdain for the city, asking the crowd a very important question.

“What happened to this place?” he asked during his set, according to SFGATE’s review of the show.

During the performance, Chapelle, 49, opened up about homelessness in San Francisco and reportedly told the story of seeing someone poo right outside the restaurant where he was about to dine.

According to a February 2023 report from the Public Policy Institute of California, 30% of all people who experienced homelessness in the last year in the United States resided in California.

Chapelle also said The Bay Area had become “part ‘Glee,’ part zombie movie,” and joked that they needed “a Batman,” the outlet reported.

However, his view of San Fran wasn’t all bad – before going into all the reasons why he didn’t seem to like being there at the start of the series, he called the town his second home.

He explained that early in his acting career he would perform there a lot – hundreds of times, in fact.

The outlet also noted that there were no special guests to join him this time around – not even Twitter scion Elon Musk, who he brought on stage the last time he was in San Francisco.

In June, Chapelle will travel to Pennsylvania for two shows, but it’s unclear if he’ll land in New York anytime soon.

In recent years, the comedian has been marked by a few controversies – including one last November, which took place while he was hosting “Saturday Night Live”.

Chappelle’s appearance led some writers on the late night show’s staff to boycott the episode before he even showed up.

During his opening monologue on SNL, he talked about anti-Semitism coming from Kanye West and Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving at the time, and made some unsavory “jokes” about it.

“I went to Hollywood – I don’t want you to get mad at me, I’m just telling you I went to Hollywood, that’s just what I saw,” he said at one point. given during the monologue, while also stating that he denounced anti-Semitism in “all its forms”. “That’s a lot of Jews.”

The apparition drew reactions from many, including the head of the Anti-Defamation League, Jonathan Greenblatt.

“We shouldn’t expect @DaveChappelle to serve as a moral compass for society, but disturbing to see @nbcsnl not just normalizing but popularizing #antisemitism,” Greenblatt said. tweeted afterwards.

In 2021, Chapelle was also embroiled in controversy following the release of his Netflix stand-up special titled “The Closer,” where he made jokes about the transgender community.

In it, he declared himself to be a “trans-exclusive radical feminist” while talking about “Harry Potter” author JK Rowling.

Last May, he was attacked by an audience member who was armed with a fake gun with a real knife inside while performing at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.

He performed there as part of the “Netflix Is a Joke” festival.