The Decline of Dave Chappelle

Firstly, Dave Chappelle was my guy. He makes me laugh and thinks about coordinating all sorts of messages. He takes those ideas and wraps into various jokes that can cajole, shock, and release.

In his latest standup, he defends himself among other material including his act in Saudi Arabia which according to him afforded him $6 million for a short gig.

This is almost treasonous. The same State which included fifteen of the nineteen hijackers on September 11, 2001; it also did not send very much assistance to Israel to aid the country after October 7, 2023. Chappelle can poke fun and ha ha and kee kee all he wants but to end his special in such an ugly twist of wording deserves reproach.

How can someone who calls himself a “capitalist” where even he said it in jest, not go for Israel? Capitalism is about freedoms of the economic, legal, and social sort. Nowhere in Chappelle’s bones is a free market champion. The closest comes with this special where he can express himself without risk of getting beheaded.

Saudi Arabia would never allow Chappelle to say anything against the royal family. Why would this veteran comedian of the highest order go against the only beacon of thought and comfort amongst brutes in a wasteland?

Chappelle had brighter moments about Bill Mahr whom he calls out during his special. This is refreshing. Mahr has stated he doesn’t like the ego of hip hop. He also stated that American troops behave cowardly when they drop bombs from planes and to stay in the plane upon impact as a hijacker is the hallmark of courage. At least Chappelle gave a stunning blow to Mahr in this front.

The Unstoppable (2025) comedic routine has those stories where you can envision the entire setting, characters, ambience and sounds.

Through constant smoking, Chappelle also outlines Diddy, Jack Johnson, Stevie Wonder and John McCain with equal aplomb and to many earned laughs and applause.

But Chappelle lowered himself with his final blow to Israel. Right now, there are over two million Arabs in Israel. How many Israelis can survive and thrive under Islamic regimes?

For Chappelle to deliver another flawless Netflix special, it is unfortunate he doesn’t see the harm in rising against Israel. It is a place that has in it dominion over nothing but the ability to grant rights. Like America, Israel is not perfect, but it must be recognized as a sovereign State complete with its own set laws.

It provides for freedom of speech. Just imagine how many jokes Chappelle could tell about transgender people being thrown from buildings, or how many other journalists have been killed at the hands of the Saudis.

He even misses the mark when talking about the assassination of late newsman Jamal Khashoggi. To much applause, he equated the hundreds of deaths of Arab journalists in Gaza at the might of Israel to this innocent man’s murder. This may be even lower than equivocation. There’s no way you can say a country like Israel which is only defending itself is some sort of monster. The country has been trying to protect itself since its inception.

With Dave’s incredible storytelling, he should have included the part about how Israel once had been a rag tag little sliver in the desert. Now, it is a nuclear state with a robust military and few want to support it now because it’s so mighty.

So what does the comedian do? He just gives a few left hooks and then an uppercut to the idea of Israel being a credible state.

If he refuses to stand up for Israel, should individuals continue to support his stand up comedy career?