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Jerry Seinfeld remarked that fellow comedian Dave Chappelle’s Saturday Night Live monologue last week about anti-Semitism was “well-executed,” but “calls for a conversation.”
“I did think the comedy was well-executed, but I think the subject matter calls for a conversation that I don’t think I’d want to have in this venue,” he told The Hollywood Reporter in an interview published on Wednesday.
“It provokes a conversation which hopefully is productive,” added the Seinfeld star, who is Jewish.
Chappelle made a number of controversial remarks about Jews during his monologue.
He referenced rapper Kanye West’s recent hateful rhetoric toward Jews and mocked the typical response of those accused of anti-Semitism.
“I denounce anti-Semitism in all its forms. And I stand with my friends in the Jewish community,’” he said. “And that, Kanye, is how you buy yourself some time.”
“I got to tell you guys, [I’ve] probably been doing this for 35 years now. And early in my career, I learned that there are two words in the English language that you
Chappelle also addressed NBA superstar Kyrie Irving promoting an anti-Semitic film.
Chappelle echoed the anti-Semitic trope that Jews control Hollywood.
“I’ve been to Hollywood. This is just what I saw. It’s a lot of Jews. Like a lot. But that don’t mean anything. I mean, there’s a lot of black people in Ferguson, Missouri,” he said. “They don’t even run the place.”
“I would say if you had some kind of issue. You know what I mean. Might go out to Hollywood, might start connecting some sort of lines and maybe you could adopt the delusion that Jews run show business. Not a crazy kind of thing to think. But it’s crazy thing to say out loud in a climate like this.”
The Anti-Defamation League has condemned Saturday Night Live over Chappelle’s opening monologue on the NBC show.