Kennedy panelists Jimmy Failla, Jessica Tarlov and Hannah Cox discuss the cancellation of comedian Dave Chappelle’s show at a Minneapolis venue due to backlash on social media.
Dave Chappelle claps back the critics.
The controversial comedian recently opened up about why he owns multimillion-dollar real estate in Yellow Springs, Ohio, in a Bloomberg magazine piece.
Yellow Springs homeowners became concerned when Chappelle began buying large lots in her small town.
“With the demise of Antioch College a few years ago, Yellow Springs lost its cultural anchor,” Chappelle’s outlet representative said on behalf of the comedian. “I have always been interested in restoring the cultural and creative industries that Antioch fostered and that made Yellow Springs a haven for art, music, culture and science.”
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Dave Chappelle is fighting back critics unhappy with his real estate venture in Yellow Springs, Ohio. (Samir Hussein/WireImage/Getty Images)
Some residents of the city expressed their concerns about Chappelle’s real estate purchases in their county.
According to Bloomberg, a local resident shared that the comedian “is a force that is making us the place we all want to stay away from.”
Chappelle spent most of his youth with his mother in Washington, DC, but lived with his father in Yellow Springs through middle school.
Antioch College, Yellow Springs, Ohio. (Corbis/Getty Images)
According to the outlet, Chappelle bought a home in Ohio in the late ’90s and moved back full-time in 2004. He retired from his Comedy Central show around the time he left Hollywood and moved to the Midwest.
He continued touring nationally but kept a low profile locally, Bloomberg reported. It wasn’t until 2015 that he began hosting shows in Ohio, initially at a local barn. Chappelle called these shows “Juke Joints”.
In 2017, he made a “rare public appearance” when he called for police reform before the village council. In 2018, he signed a multi-million dollar Netflix deal for his comedy specials and founded Iron Table Holdings LLC.
Some Yellow Springs residents weren’t happy with Dave Chappelle buying real estate in their small town. (Mathieu Bitton/Netflix/Fox News)
He then began buying up real estate in Ohio. According to the outlet, he bought eight homes in Greene County in 2020, bringing his total to 20.
In November 2020, Chappelle appeared on “Saturday Night Live” and discussed the state of his small town following the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, which resulted in shops closing and people being forced to stay indoors.
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“My town was dying,” he said at the time, so “I did shows in my neighbor’s corn field, and those shows were very successful and might even have helped save the city.”
He also said in his 2020 SNL monologue, “The local farmers — my neighbors — started complaining that my shows were too loud — in a cornfield!”
Dave Chappelle reportedly owns 20 properties in Yellow Springs, Ohio. (Lester Cohen/WireImage/Getty Images)
Chappelle said the town meetings were “embarrassing” which sparked resentment.
“I resented that these peasants could decide the fate of a man like me. People don’t deserve to do this. You haven’t seen enough. They don’t know anything,” he said at the time, according to Bloomberg.
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Chappelle’s outdoor comedy shows reportedly raised “$12 million in direct and indirect economic activity for the state of Ohio, including $4 million for the village.”
According to Bloomberg, Matthew Cole, the region’s only CPA, wrote in a letter at the time: “Some local businesses wouldn’t exist today without the shows.”