Stand-up comedian Dave Chappelle hosted Saturday Night Live for the first time, and his opening monologue was everything we thought it would be and more. It was real, powerful and surprisingly heartfelt. Chappelle was a first time host and was met with thunderous applause and a standing ovation as he made his return to TV.
As expected, Chappelle didn’t shy away from race and spent a majority of his 11-minute monologue discussing Trump and the election.
“But America’s done it. We’ve actually elected an Internet troll as our president. The whites were furious. I’ve never seen anything like it. I haven’t seen whites this mad since the O.J. verdict,” Chappelle said.
Chappelle went on to mention the protests happening in Portland and likened the white protesters to amateurs for only causing $1 million worth of damages. After commenting on the polarizing reaction of Trump’s win, he stated the urgency of other national crises — mass shootings and police brutality against the Black community.
Chappelle also included mentions of ISIS, Harambe and joked about staying in a Trump hotel. He closed with a touching story about visiting the White House a few weeks earlier and, ultimately, wished Trump luck in his presidency.
“You know, before I go, I do want to say one thing, and this is not a joke. But I think it’s important that I say this, ’cause they’re marching up the street right now as we speak.
A few weeks ago I went to the White House for a party. It was the first time I’ve been there in many years, and it was very exciting. And BET sponsored the party, so everyone there was Black. And it was beautiful. I walked through the gates — you know, I’m from Washington, so I saw the bus stop, or the corner where the bus stop used to be, where I used to catch the bus to school and dream about nights like tonight.
It was a really, really beautiful night. At the end of the night, everyone went into the West Wing of the White House, and it was a huge party. And everybody in there was Black — except for Bradley Cooper, for some reason.
And on the walls were pictures of all the presidents of the past. Now, I’m not sure if this is true, but to my knowledge the first black person that was officially invited to the White House was Frederick Douglass. They stopped him at the gates. Abraham Lincoln had to walk out himself and escort Frederick Douglass into the White House, and it didn’t happen again, as far as I know, until Roosevelt was president. Roosevelt was president, he had a black guy over and got so much flack from the media that he literally said, “I will never have a n****r in this house again.’
I thought about that, and I looked at that black room and saw all those black faces — and Bradley — and I saw how happy everybody was. These people who had been historically disenfranchised. It made me feel hopeful, and it made me feel proud to be an American, and it made me very happy about the prospects of our country.
So, in that spirit, I’m wishing Donald Trump luck. And I’m going to give him a chance, and we, the historically disenfranchised, demand that he give us one, too. Thank you very much.”
Chappelle’s SNL Monologue
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