Dave Chappelle is Facing Heat For New Comments About Charlie Kirk
Dave Chappelle is the talk of the timelines, and it’s not because of his surprise appearance at “SNL” over the weekend. This time around, he’s in hot water because of comments he made about the late conservative commentator Charlie Kirk. Let’s get into it.
Over the weekend, footage of the veteran comedian performing at Madison Square Garden began making the rounds on social media. During one part of his set, Chappelle could be heard talking about Kirk and made a comment that got a lot of folks up in arms.
“I feel f*cked up saying this. It’s scary being a public speaker,” Chappelle began. “Ever since that guy Charlie Kirk got murdered—and I shouldn’t say this publicly—but I feel better.”
He continued: “I know I shouldn’t say that, but it’s just a feeling. I didn’t ask to feel this way. I just be driving around like, ‘Why am I in such a good mood? Oh!’”
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As you can imagine, folks on the right wasted no time calling the comedian out for what he said.
“This is being insensitive. If a white comedian said this about a black person, everyone would be up in arms,” wrote one user on X/Twitter.
“Feels better about a Christian, patriot, husband and father who openly welcomed debate and was senselessly murdered for all to see. We truly are in the end times where people call evil good and good evil,” said another.
One other user wrote: “I don’t think this is gonna turn out well for him in the long run.”
Erika Kirk, Charlie’s widow, posted what some believe was a response to Chappelle’s words on Nov. 8 on X/Twitter, though she didn’t name the longtime comedian outright.
“To see leftist podcasters, comedians, and commentators laugh about political assassination as though it’s entertainment and the destruction of a human life is a punchline is beyond disgusting,” she wrote. “My husband, Charlie Kirk, was killed in an act of political violence, something our two children and I will live with every day for the rest of our lives.”
She continued, “You do not have to agree with someone’s politics to recognize the value of their life. This should not be so hard. Political violence must never be something this country tolerates, excuses, or celebrates.”
This is far from the first time Chappelle has mentioned Kirk—the Turning Point USA founder who was fatally shot while speaking at a college in September 2025–in his comedy. He previously discussed Kirk’s killing in his Netflix comedy special “The Unstoppable,” which came out three months after the shooting. At the time, he mentioned how seeing his assassination had shaken him as someone who also speaks publicly for a living.
This is also far from the first time Chappelle has let some controversial comments fly out of his mouth. As we’ve been telling you, over the last five years alone, the beloved comedian has been all over the country and our streaming services for his various comedy specials. In 2021, he came under fire for his then-controversial Netflix stand-up “The Closer” due to jokes that many felt were transphobic.
In the aftermath of “The Closer’s” release, the comedian was called out by the National Black Justice Coalition and GLAAD for his “lazy and hostile transphobia and homophobia”-laced jokes. Trans employees of Netflix and their allies also staged a walkout as Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos seemingly doubled down on his support for the comedian and not his employees.
Chappelle later said he was ready to come to the table with a listening ear for those trans employees and the broader community, but clarified that he wouldn’t “bend to anyone’s demands.”
His material made him an unofficial and unlikely spokesperson for the Republican Party, which Chappelle accused of “weaponizing” his jokes to amplify their disapproval of the trans community. But while Chappelle has made it clear he doesn’t want to be aligned with the party or with hate, he is also still seemingly dedicated to keeping true to his comedic style of just saying whatever, whenever – consequences, backlash, or criticism be damned.
