The last time Chappelle hosted SNL was not great for the Jews

The comedian is hosting again this Saturday and I'm feeling pretty nervous.

Well, I didn’t think we’d be here again, and yet: Dave Chappelle is hosting “Saturday Night Live” this weekend. And the people (I’m the people) want to know: Why?!

For those who don’t remember, the last time the comedian hosted SNL was in 2022, and his monologue included a joke that wasn’t funny and that many agreed was antisemitic. Let’s take a walk down memory lane, shall we?

First, let’s set the scene — Chappelle had already been a controversial figure for some time, thanks to a number of bigoted, anti-trans “jokes” in his 2020 standup special “The Closer.” When he graced the SNL stage in 2022, it was not long after rapper Kanye West was at the center of an antisemitism scandal.

And so, Chappelle started his monologue by reading out a facetious statement: “I denounce antisemitism in all its form, and I stand with my friends in the Jewish community,” he said in an unenthused, neutral voice.

“And that, Kanye, is how you buy yourself some time,” he then joked.

Chappelle went on to share how he learned early in his career that there are two words you shouldn’t say together in sequence: “the” and “Jews.”

“I’ve never heard someone do good after they said that,” he explained.

He then said that Kanye committed the ultimate faux pas because in the entertainment industry, everyone knows that “if they’re Black, then it’s a gang, if they’re Italian, then it’s a mob — but if they’re Jewish, then it’s a coincidence.”

Wait wait, there’s more. “I’ve been to Hollywood and — no one get mad at me — I’m just telling you what I saw,” he said, adding, “It’s a lot of Jews. Like a lot.” He then tried to walk it back with, “There’s a lot of Black people in Ferguson, Missouri; that doesn’t mean we run the place.”

Chappelle then decided to go all the way in, confirming that he can understand why “you could adopt the delusion that Jews run Hollywood.”

“It’s not a crazy thing to think, but it’s a crazy thing to say out loud in a climate like this,” he summarized, before moving on to talk about Herschel Walker and leaving most Jews watching with an ominous feeling and a bad taste in their mouths.

He eventually got to Kyrie Irving, a basketball player also in the midst of an antisemitism scandal at the time, and fed into a dangerous divide that white supremacists absolutely love: pitting Jewish and Black people against each other.

“I know the Jewish people have been through terrible things, but you can’t blame that on Black Americans — you just can’t,” Chappelle said of Irving’s experience. Except nobody was doing that — Irving got in trouble for promoting an antisemitic movie and refusing to admit the video was antisemitic.

Back when this all happened, I wrote a more complex analysis of the monologue on Kveller, but my main point — and many others' — was that by saying Kanye isn’t wrong to believe what he does, just wrong to say it, he reinforced those antisemitic conspiracy theories and gave them extra cred coming from the kind of everyday man that Chappelle purports himself to be. It was pretty effed up at a time when antisemitism was a hot topic (Amy Schumer, who hosted the week before, tackled it in a very different way.) After the backlash, Chappelle wasn’t remorseful, and earlier this year in Abu Dhabi, he once again veered into antisemitic territory in his comedy.

So what can we expect this weekend during his fourth stint as the show’s host?

A new promo for the episode, part of SNL’s 50th anniversary season, shows Chappelle quietly sitting on the stage as a voiceover makes fun of Steven Seagal, who Lorne Michaels, David Spade and Tim Meadows have recalled as the show’s most difficult guest.

I will say this: After an incredibly difficult 15 months to be Jewish in this country, and a week of upheaval with news of a ceasefire and hostage deal that still isn’t 100% set in stone, dealing with more possible antisemitism from Chappelle, or even another reminder of it, is more than I can handle. Yes, Chappelle is a culture-shaping comedian, but giving him the SNL hosting gig again after that faux pas just feels like a painful move for the many Jews who have been devoted viewers. It’s also, despite whatever Chappelle or Kanye may say, definitely proof that Jews don’t run the entertainment business.

But hey, at least we’ll get national Jewish pride Timothée Chalamet as host and musical guest the following week.

What do you think? Let me know in the comments!