Dave Chappelle Was More Than Just Funny, He Was Right

Even as he was pointing out that Kanye and Kyrie were slammed for stereotyping “the Jews,” “the Jews” who self-appointed themselves the official spokespeople of American Jewry were meeting with corporations and the media to draw up their list of demands for acceptable public redemption.

That list might be the biggest joke of all. The fact that “sensitivity training” was on it tells us all we need to know about who the list was designed to serve. The requisite financial penalty was there as well.

How exactly a $500,000 donation to “fight hate” might protect all the Brooklyn Jews (who Chappelle hilariously says dress like Run DMC) who have been getting sucker-punched on the streets (by people who ironically also look like Run DMC but without the black hats) is a question that remains unanswered. And what is “hate” exactly? And how did the list-makers calculate that $500,000 was needed to fight it?

What Kanye West said was antisemitic and so was the film Kyrie Irving linked to on social media. Saying so and taking action are important. But the “line” Dave Chappelle referenced in his monologue is also important. That line is about who is speaking and acting in our name, and how. It is about whether we are fighting antisemitism or leveraging it. The former helps the Jews, and the latter helps those who claim to be helping the Jews.

If we don’t start paying closer attention to that line, the country will never take real antisemitism seriously; because, clearly, neither do “the Jews.” I am laughing along with Dave Chappelle at “the Jews” who still miss the joke.