Dave Chappelle Revisits Controversial “Give [Trump] a Chance” SNL Monologue on Late Show

It’s always good to clear the air. That’s just what Dave Chappelle did during his chat with Stephen Colbert on last night’s Late Show when Colbert brought up Chappelle’s SNL hosting gig that he had the week after Donald Trump was elected, which, because of its timing, was bound to be a provocative episode. During his monologue, Chappelle made a questionable remark that raised a lot of eyebrows: “I’m wishing Donald Trump luck, and I’m gonna give him a chance. And we, the historically disenfranchised, demand that he give us one, too.”

“You gotta give a guy a chance. But not an inch,” Colbert says. “Now we’re seven, eight months in. How do feel about the chances that he’s been given? Do you still wanna give him a chance? Or have you given him all the chances he’s gonna get?”

“It’s not like I wanted to give him a chance that night,” Chappelle responds, eliciting a laugh from the audience. “In the last six months, I think we’re all getting an education about the presidency. I don’t know that I’ve ever heard in just popular discourse people discussing ethics this much, and I didn’t even realize how ethics were necessarily supposed to work at that level of government. And he’s putting all this stuff on the forefront.”

Colbert so aptly replies, “Well, nobody really talks about oxygen until someone’s got their hands around your throat.” Chappelle goes on to explain how the quote was taken out of context and that many white Americans got to see how a normal election cycle looks to black Americans. As for Donald Trump, Chappelle believes he’s a “polarizing dude. He’s like a bad DJ at a good party.”

Chappelle also discussed his new love of fitness, his mom critiquing his standup when he was 14 and his upcoming August residency at Radio City Music Hall. Watch his Late Show interview above and his controversial SNL monologue below.