Dave Chappelle briefly addressed the Israel-Hamas conflict at a show in Boston last week, drawing cheers from some audience members and prompting others to leave, while denouncing the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, according to news reports and a spokeswoman for the Comedian.
The set took place on Thursday, the first of two shows Mr. Chappelle hosted at the TD Garden in Boston, and no jokes or comments about the war were planned, said spokeswoman Carla Sims.
Mr. Chappelle’s comments were first reported in the Wall Street Journal, which said some audience members cheered Mr. Chappelle as he spoke about the conflict while others left the room. The Los Angeles Times reported that about 200 people out of the approximately 17,000 spectators left toward the end of the show.
“As a comedian and satirist, he must grapple with the complexities of competing truths and present perspectives that can be both thought-provoking and challenging,” Ms. Sims said of Mr. Chappelle.
People were not allowed to access their phones during the performance and there was little evidence of what exactly happened during the set. But Mr. Chappelle was eventually drawn into the topic of war by audience members and then focused on it for about eight minutes, according to news reports and a person listening to a recording of the set.
After initially refusing to get involved, Mr. Chappelle, who has not hesitated to address controversial topics in recent years, raised concerns about the way a group of Harvard students were treated after they wrote an anti-Israel letter had written. At that point, a bystander yelled for him to shut up, according to reports and the person who heard the recording.
Mr. Chappelle, apparently taken aback by the attempt to silence him at his own show, told the person to shut up, according to news reports and the person who listened to the tape. He said the Oct. 7 attacks were horrific and horrific criticized Israel for its role in displacing more than a million people and withholding food, water and fuel. The comedian added that people on both sides of the conflict needed to reflect on themselves and how they treated each other.
He eventually admitted that the person who told him to shut up was right to be angry, according to the person who heard the tape. But he encouraged people to talk to each other and stressed that everyone should remember that people were killed in the conflict.