To which I say, REALLY? Dave Chappelle hosted Saturday Night Live and as expected, a new controversy is developing. Controversy and Chappelle go hand-in-hand these days. The most recent controversy is over some jokes Chappelle told, mostly in defense of Kanye West, about Jews. He was coming to the defense of Kanye West, kinda, and making a point about free speech.

Kanye West made some anti-Semitic tweets and the fall-out has been bad for him. He lost working relationships with major brands like Adidas (which Chappelle does a joke about) and Chappelle noted that West lost $1.5B in one day.

At the start of his routine, Chappele unfolded a small piece of paper and read from it, saying, “‘I denounce antisemitism in all its forms. And I stand with my friends in the Jewish community.’ And that, Kanye, is how you buy yourself some time.”

Then he got to the meat of the bit. Chappelle noted that he had come to learn that there are “two words in the English language that you should never say together in sequence: ‘The’ and ‘Jews.’”

“I’ve been to Hollywood and — no one get mad at me — I’m just telling you what I saw,” he said, adding a signature pause. “It’s a lot of Jews. Like a lot. But that doesn’t mean anything! You know what I mean? Because there are a lot of Black people in Ferguson, Missouri, it doesn’t mean we run the place.”

He added the “delusion that Jews run show business” is “not a crazy thing to think,” but “it’s a crazy thing to say out loud.” He also said of West, “It’s a big deal, he had broken the show business rules. You know, the rules of perception. If they’re Black, then it’s a gang. If they’re Italian, it’s a mob. If they’re Jewish, it’s a coincidence and you should never speak about it.”

He ended his 15-minute monologue by stressing that people shouldn’t be afraid to talk about anything.

“It shouldn’t be this scary to talk about anything,” he said.. “It’s making my job incredibly difficult. And to be honest with you, I’m sick of talking to a crowd like this. I love you to death and I thank you for your support. And I hope they don’t take anything away from me… whoever they are.”

Chappelle also did a few jokes about Herschel Walker running for the U.S. Senate in Georgia – “he’s observably stupid” – and noted that some people are talking about the Trump era being over. Dave lives in Ohio, “among poor white people” and said that New Yorkers may think Trump is done but people in Ohio love him. Chappelle’s observations about the first debate between Trump and Hillary Clinton back in 2015 are worth the price of admission.

Dave Chappelle has been a professional comedian for 35 years. Everyone knows how he rolls. Chappelle appeals to a very large audience because there is something for everyone in his shows. He goes off on everyone and it’s funny. The point of his comedy, especially in recent years, is that free speech is worth fighting for.

Granted, anti-Semitism tweets (or jokes) are not acceptable. But you can acknowledge that and still laugh at jokes that are not anti-Semitic in nature, they are just funny observations. That is what Chappelle’s monologue did. However, we know after the Netflix and transgender battles, the long knives are out for Chappelle every time he performs. Saturday night was no different. Chappelle is once again being accused of being insensitive, this time towards Jews.

The national director of Jewish civil rights organization the Anti-Defamation League has tweeted out concerns over comedian Dave Chappelle’s opening monologue last night on Saturday Night Live.

“We shouldn’t expect @DaveChappelle to serve as society’s moral compass, but disturbing to see @nbcsnl not just normalize but popularize #antisemitism,” said a tweet from the ADL’s Jonathan Greenblatt today. Why are Jewish sensitivities denied or diminished at almost every turn? Why does our trauma trigger applause?”

Others are jumping on the bandwagon with their hot takes on Twitter. Not all were critical Chappelle.

The Jerusalem Post tweeted: “The American comedian Dave Chappelle said during his SNL monologue that he ‘denounces antisemitism in all its forms’…before promptly engaging in antisemitic tropes.”

While Time Out New York theater editor and critic Adam Feldman tweeted: “That Dave Chappelle SNL monologue probably did more to normalize anti-Semitism than anything Kanye said. Everyone knows Kanye is nuts. Chappelle posits himself as a teller of difficult truths. It’s worse.”

Yet Tangle News founder Isaac Saul tweeted: “Let me be the first Jew to say: Dave Chappelle’s SNL open last night was hilarious, timely, honest, and a reminder that he still understands this country better than a lot of people whose whole job is to understand the country. It’s okay to acknowledge there are a lot of Jews in media and Hollywood. And like Dave said, you can simultaneously note that it’s very stupid to think this means they are in some cabal controlling the world.”

I watched the show because, like others, I thought if Chappelle was hosting (his third time as host) the show, it had a chance to actually be funny. I’m old enough to remember when the show first began and it was something fun to watch on a Saturday night. I thought Chappelle did a good job, but I’m biased. I’m a longtime Chappelle fan. One other thing – my paternal grandfather was Jewish. I’m aware of anti-Semitism and it’s dangerous. That is not what I was hearing from Chappelle, nor do I think that was his intention. I don’t think Chappelle or SNL was trying to normalize anti-Semitism.

I’ll end with the video of the monologue. Watch it for yourself and you can be the judge.

**** Warning: NSFW ****

** NOTE** A correction has been made to properly spell Kanye West’s name. It was misspelled when the post was published. – Karen