He then went deep on his decision to perform in Saudi Arabia, acknowledging “I’ve been getting a lot of grief” and specifically calling out Bill Maher: “I’ve never said this publicly but fuck that guy. I’m so fucking tired of his little smug, cracker-ass commentary.”
Chappelle declared, “I don’t feel guilty at all” and continued, “These motherfuckers act like because I did a comedy festival in Saudi Arabia I somehow betrayed my principles… They said, ‘Well, Saudi Arabia killed a journalist’ and rest in peace Jamal Khashoggi. I’m sorry that he got murdered in such a heinous fashion. And also, look bro, Israel’s killed 240 journalists in the last three months so I didn’t know y’all were still counting.”
He reiterated his past statement that “it’s easier to talk in Saudi Arabia for me than it is in America,” saying he was nearly canceled in the U.S. several years ago for his jokes about the trans community. The comedian added, “But I’ve gotta tell you something — transgender jokes went over very well in Saudi Arabia,” while joking that he no longer works at Netflix and his new job is to “sit by the phone and wait for them Arabs to call me.”
Later in the show, Chappelle commented on Charlie Kirk’s assassination, saying, “This is another reason it’s hard to talk in America, because if you talk for a living and see Charlie Kirk get murdered that way, I’m gonna be honest, I was shook.” He added that when initial (later walked back) reports came out that trans messages were inscribed on the bullets shot at Kirk, “I was at home like, ‘Oh no! I’m dead as fried chicken.'” The comedian also noted that people were saying, “Charlie Kirk is this generation’s Martin Luther King. No, he’s not. That’s a reach. They both got murdered in a terrible fashion, they both got shot in the neck, but that’s about where those similarities end.”
Chappelle closed the show by telling the crowd, “D.C., no matter how much this government or anyone else puts pressure on you, keep your wits about you. I’m here just to remind you that we are a community and we will stay sane together. We will take care of each other, and we will wait” Trump out. He added that he was worried his voice would be co-opted, and wanted a code word so that he could signal to fans that people had gotten to him. “It’s got to be something that I would never say — oh, I know what the code is. The code word is, ‘I stand with Israel.'”
