Dave Chappelle Performed A 'FAKE' SNL Monologue During Dress Rehearsal To Trick Them Into Letting Him Do His Real One Live: REPORT

If this is true, Dave Chappelle knew exactly how damaging his words were going to be…

A new source is speaking out about some of the behind-the-scenes antics that occurred during this week’s Saturday Night Live, which has been met with a ton of backlash after the stand-up star normalized and popularized Kanye West’s antisemitic remarks. Chatting with Page Six on Monday, the insider claimed the Sticks & Stones alum performed a “fake” opening monologue during the dress rehearsal for his SNL hosting gig — then switched things up last minute before anyone could say no! WTF?!

Discussing the problematic 15-minute speech, the confidant told the outlet:

“Dave does a fake monologue during the dress rehearsal, because he doesn’t want [SNL creator] Lorne Michaels, or anyone else, to know what his real monologue is.”

Woooow. If he seriously tricked the whole production into airing his opening monologue, that’s messed up!! Not only is it disrespectful considering Lorne (and probably plenty of other SNL creatives) is Jewish himself, but it shows he knew how harmful his speech was going to be and just didn’t give a f**k. Sigh.

But get this: even his fake performance was controversial! The source added that the 49-year-old entertainer made a joke during the dress rehearsal about a writer who refused to work with him during his week on the show. Now, we’ve already heard reports that some staff sat out for the episode following the host’s controversial transphobic and homophobic jokes in the past, so this does seem to track.

While Chappelle’s rep previously told Page Six there was nothing to suggest there was any boycott among the SNL writers last week, another insider told the outlet on Monday that the joke about the objecting writer during the rehearsal “caused tensions to flare.” It’s unclear if he removed this bit from his real monologue because of the drama or if it was never meant to be heard by the masses. Either way, his real performance was even more troublesome than his practice run!

As we reported, during the monologue, the Half Baked lead referred to his rapper pal’s antisemitism, even going so far as to make light of condemning the violent hate speech. He began his performance by pulling out a piece of paper and pretending to read a statement, saying:

“I denounce antisemitism in all its forms and stand with my friends in the Jewish community. And that, Kanye, is how you buy yourself some time.”

Ugh.

The Closer star then spent the majority of his monologue making jokes about damaging tropes involving Jewish executives in Hollywood, Jewish holidays, and other related topics, such as NBA star Kyrie Irving’s ban from the Brooklyn Nets after he posted links to an antisemitic movie. Many organizations and activists have come out of the woodwork to slam Dave, SNL, and NBC for airing the segment. Rudy Rochman called the speech “a meticulous & calculated move to desensitize the population from antisemitism.” Meanwhile, Time Out New York theater editor Adam Feldman argued it was MORE damaging than the Yeezy designer’s rants, writing on Twitter:

“That Dave Chappelle SNL monologue probably did more to normalize antisemitism than anything Kanye said.”

Unfortunately, many people loved the monologue. Not only has Dave earned the support of some other celebs — like Loni Love who called the monologue “the classic stand up he is known for… current events, timely and funny” — but he’s also garnered praise from literal white supremacists and self-proclaimed Nazis. Now why in the world would they be the audience he wanted to attract?! SMH.

Reps for the comedian have not responded to Page Six’s request for comment. Whether or not he delivered a fake monologue during his rehearsal, it seems pretty clear he was determined to cause trouble. As a reminder, the Jewish community has historically faced mass execution when these kinds of harmful stereotypes become mainstream, so, Dave should in no way have wanted to perpetuate any of these damaging ideologies. And yet, he went out of his way to do so. Reactions, Perezcious readers? Let us know what you think about this “fake” monologue theory (below).

To learn more about antisemitism and how you can help fight it, check out https://www.adl.org/.

[Image via Saturday Night Live/YouTube]