Rep for Dave Chappelle Claims There Is No ‘SNL’ Writing Boycott
Dave Chappelle’s representative has pushed back on a report claiming that Saturday Night Live writers were staging a boycott. The stand-up comedian hosted the comedy sketch show this past weekend.
Last Wednesday, The New York Post cited an anonymous source reporting that writers on the show were going to sit out on the episode.
“We’ve seen nothing to support media reports of a writer’s boycott,” Chappelle’s rep tells CNN in a statement. “In fact, the writers delivered over 40 sketches for Dave’s consideration and collaboration. Just as during Dave’s past SNL appearances, you won’t want to miss it!”
This was Chappelle’s third time hosting. He previously hosted in 2020 and in 2016, which was memorable for being the first show after the election of Donald Trump. He famously said America should give Trump a chance, but has since admitted that he was way off.
News of Chappelle’s hosting was met with some furor on social media given his controversial comments over the years about the transgender community, especially given that the show announced in September that it was adding its first nonbinary cast member, comedian and actor Molly Kearney, as well as a new trans nonbinary writer, Celeste Yim.
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Yim reportedly posted an Instagram story saying, “I’m trans and nonbinary. I use they/them pronouns. Transphobia is murder, and it should be condemned.”
“Gender is a fact,” Chappelle says during the special. “Every human being in this room, every human being on earth, had to pass through the legs of a woman to be on earth. That is a fact.”
Approximately 65 Netflix employees staged a walkout amid the controversy and, earlier this year, one venue canceled Chappelle’s planned appearance after receiving criticism over the decision to have him perform.
Netflix stood by its decision to stream the special.
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