Dave Chappelle Reportedly Accuses Israel of War Crimes During Show, Sparking Audience Walkout

Things got heated during Dave Chappelle’s Thursday comedy show in Boston, as a Wall Street Journal report states that some audience members left after Chappelle accused Israel of “war crimes” and suggested that pro-Palestinian members shouldn’t be losing their jobs.

The Wall Street Journal report, which was sourced with people who attended the show, said that Chappelle did denounce the Hamas terror attack against Israel on October 7 before saying that those who support the Palestinian side of the conflict shouldn’t be losing their jobs. At this point, an audience member reportedly shouted at Chappelle to “shut the f— up,” although The Wrap reported that Redditors who claim to have attended the show suggested that the audience member may have been yelling at some rowdy members of the audience instead.

Regardless, Chappelle thought the audience member was yelling at him, prompting the 50-year-old comedian to launch into an emotional rant criticizing Israel for cutting off water, electricity and fuel from the Gaza Strip and accused the Jewish state of killing innocent civilians and committing war crimes.

Some in the audience began cheering Chappelle and shouted, “Free Palestine!” Others yelled, “What about Hamas?” Ultimately some audience members got up and walked out of the show.

Chappelle also later said in the show that “two wrongs don’t make a right” regarding the Hamas terror attack and Israel’s response, per The Wall Street Journal report.

One person who attended the show said on social media, per The Daily Mail: “The audience was cheering Chappelle on during his tirade. I was sick. We were sick. I turned to my friends and wife and said I think it is time to go. We walked out and met up with many other Jews leaving the show. Never in my life have I felt so unsafe and so fearful of what I was witnessing.”

Chappelle’s spokesperson told The Wall Street Journal that the comedian denied being in Boston on Thursday, although multiple media outlets have noted that the TD Garden’s website listed Chappelle as performing at the venue that night.

Simon Wiesenthal Center Associate Dean and Director of Global Social Action Agenda Rabbi Abraham Cooper denounced Chappelle’s reported remarks. “Dave Chappelle, wrong century,” he said in a statement. “Jews were helpless as they were tortured, raped, and mass murdered during Nazi Holocaust. Not today. Not with Israel dedicated to protecting the Jewish people. Mass murderers of our people, torturers of Jewish infants, rapists, kidnappers, and their enablers are paying for their crimes against humanity. Find it amusing? Hamas and Islamic Jihad aren’t any more!”

It’s not the first time that one of Chappelle’s comedy bits have stoked controversy in the Jewish community. Last year, Chappelle said during a November appearance on “Saturday Night Live” (SNL): “Before I start tonight, I just wanted to read a brief statement that I prepared. 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.” He also said during the SNL appearance that there are “a lot of Jews” in Hollywood, and that while it’s delusional to say that Jews run Hollywood, “It’s not a crazy thing to think. But it’s a crazy thing to say out loud in a climate like this.” The Journal’s Ryan Torok interviewed several Jewish comedians about Chappelle’s comments at the time; the responses were mixed.

In 2021, Chappelle also sparked controversy with a shtick about “Space Jews.” “In my movie idea, we find that these aliens are originally from Earth, that they are originally from an ancient civilization that achieved interstellar travel and left the Earth thousands of years ago,” he said in his Netflix special “The Closer.” “Some other planet they go to, and things go terrible for them in the other planet, so they come back to Earth and decide they want to claim the Earth for their very own. It’s a pretty good plotline huh? I call it: ‘Space Jews.’” Chappelle elaborated in his joke that “Space Jews” would focus on a freed slave who perpetuated “the same evil on a person that looks just like him.”

StandWithUs responded to the “Space Jews” joke with a thread on X, formerly known as Twitter, calling Chappelle’s bit “a teachable moment.” “If the joke had been rooted in historical facts, the ‘Space Jews’ would have left because they were forced out by oppressive empires,” StandWithUs wrote in their thread, adding that “Jews were defeated by an oppressive colonial force, gradually scattered across the world, and continued to suffer persecution across Europe and the Middle East… After 1,900 years of life as an oppressed minority, Jews would indeed claim their homeland as their own, and rightfully so.”

UPDATE: Chappelle is now reportedly claiming that he has been “misquoted.”

According to The New York Times, Chappelle said at a Wednesday show in North Carolina, “The other night, I said something about Palestine in Boston and got misquoted all over the world. And I will not repeat what I said.”

An audience member then shouted, “Free Palestine!”, prompting Chappelle to tell the audience member: “Don’t start it up or I’m going to be in the news cycle for another week.” “I understand what’s happening in Israel is a nightmare,” Chappelle said. “What’s happening in Palestine is a nightmare. There’s only two kinds of people in the world: people who love other people and the people that have things to make them afraid to love other people. Pray for everyone in Israel. Pray for everyone in Palestine.”