Comedian Dave Chappelle speaks out against the hecklers that disrupted his comeback performance in Hartford, Conn. at the Comedy & Curiosity Festival last Thursday, Aug. 29.
Dave Chappelle, the 40 year old comedian and former host of “The Dave Chappelle Show”, attempted to control his crowd by responding to the heckling and moving on. Some audience members would not let up, shouting derogatory comments and booing. Chappelle is assumed to no longer be a fan of Hartford.
Chappelle’s sketch comedy, The Dave Chappelle Show was widely known for its controversial style. Most of his shows included racial slurs and other remarks, all meant to be humorous and even revolutionary. The three season show was a big hit running from 2003 to 2006 on Comedy Central. Chappelle quit the show to travel the world.
His encounter only armed him with more material for his show in Chicago’s Oddball Funny or Die yesterday. He began the show with reference to his Hartford performance. “I don’t want anything bad to happen to the United States, but if North Korea ever drops a nuclear bomb on this country I swear to God I hope it lands in Hartford, Connecticut,” he said. “That crowd was evilàlike a tiger show.”
Some audience members were excited “It’s ok man you’re doin’ great,” yelled one fan, while others were livid: “Dave Chappelle you suck” another screamed with what sounded like a drunken voice. Others were encouraging people to quiet down and let Chappelle speak.
Representatives of Connecticut were not very happy about Chappelle’s comments and somewhat took it to heart.
“For him to feel this way about the state of Connecticutàit deeply saddens me[à]” said the President of the Connecticut branch of the NAACP, Scot X. Esdaile to newspaper the Courant. Some have even said that Chappelle should have just “sucked it up”, while at the same time the state is continues commenting over Chappelle’s jab at their sake.
Dave Chappelle will be performing in New Jersey at Oddball Comedy & Curiosity Festival tomorrow at 5 p.m.