Don’t’ Call It A Comeback

The cover of the latest Entertainment Weekly has a line on the bottom right corner that says Dave Chappelle: His Wild Comeback Explodes With A Thrilling New Movie.

Comeback? Not really. Sure he hasn’t been in the public eye, but his movie Dave Chappelle’s Block Party was shown at the Toronto Film Festival back in September and was filmed long before he:
a) Went crazy
b) Went into rehab
c) Succumbed to the pressure
d) Was forced out by powerful black celebs
e) All of the above

But comeback is how you sell things. Which is why he had to do his mea culpa on Oprah’s show – Oprah being one of the influential black entertainers and politicians who (in a grand conspiracy theory) knocked Chappelle off his perch.

The theory held that these figures weren’t happy with the “negative stereotypes about African Americans” his show was perpetuating. So what did he tell Oprah? “I was doing sketches that were funny but socially irresponsible."

Of course the theory was all just a joke. Wasn’t it?

But Don't You Wish It Were True?

Have you ever wondered what really happened to Dave Chappelle? It looked like he had it all – a hot show, the mantle of “It” comedian taken from Chris Rock and Comedy Central dropping $50-million on him to keep doing his thing.

Then faster than you can say “I’m Rick James, bitch!” he lost it and headed to a South African mental institution (maybe) and the third season of his show was out on indefinite hiatus.

Or maybe a cabal of influential black entertainers and politician destroyed his career. That’s what’s being suggested at The Chappelle Theory, which says Al Sharpton, Louis Farrakhan, Jesse Jackson, Bill Cosby, Oprah Winfrey and Whoopi Goldberg:

“…felt Chappelle's Show reinforced negative stereotypes about African Americans, and that its content was, in the words of group leader Bill Cosby, ‘setting race relations back 50 years.’”

It’s great stuff, a fantastic conspiracy theory. It started floating about the web last week and got picked up by blogs like Defamer and the like. It turns out that it is either a clever piece of viral marketing for the next season of the Chappelle show that is being cobbled together out of left-over skits, or the opening salvo of a new satire site. Or it’s actually true.

Either way, I love it. Make up your own mind.