Posted on 11/27/2019 7:59:28 AM PST by Red Badger
Comedian Dave Chappelle was honored with the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor at the Kennedy Center this past weekend, and Chappelle used the occasion to tout his support for the Second Amendment right alongside the First Amendment.
Chappelle informed the audience “I did not write a speech.” During his impromptu remarks, he defended freedom of speech when talking about comedians he knows who are “very racist.”
“(I) don’t get mad at ’em, don’t hate on ’em,” he said. “Man, it’s not that serious. The First Amendment is first for a reason. Second Amendment is just in case the First one doesn’t work out.”
This might be the first time someone’s ever spoke supportively of the right to keep and bear arms during the Kennedy Center awards, but it’s not the first time Chappelle has spoken about gun ownership and gun control. In his most recent special for Netflix, the comedian riffed on buying a gun after moving to a farm in rural Ohio.
Chappelle says he hates guns, but he owns several. He says he doesn’t want them, but he feels like he should have them, because of where he lives and the problems from the opioid epidemic. In his telling, what really prompted him to get a gun, however, was seeing a guy with a rifle strapped across his back walking through Chappelle’s rural farmland. Chappelle so disliked that feeling of not being able to protect yourself that he went down to a local store (a Kmart, as Dave tells it) and bought himself a shotgun.
It’s entirely possible that Chappelle made up the entire story, but if he did, he didn’t do it to make some sort of roundabout point in favor of gun control. I won’t spoil it for you, because his special really is worth watching, but there is no “haha look at the ignorant gun owners” punch line to be found. The closest you’ll find is his suggestion that if we really want gun control, every African American needs to buy a gun. Having said that, I assume that Chappelle, like almost every celebrity out there, supports more gun control laws, but there’s no point in the Netflix special where he demands Congress reinstate a semi-auto ban or anything like that.
Even though he was surrounded by a gaggle of celebrities who’ve endorsed all kinds of gun control laws, Chappelle didn’t call for a gun ban or sign on to Beto O’Rourke’s compensated confiscation plan at the Kennedy Center honors. Instead, he offered an amusing take on why he supports the freedoms protected by the Bill of Rights, as well as heartfelt thanks for the opportunities and friendships he’s had over the years.
“An honor like this would be special anywhere it happened, but the fact that it’s happening here in Washington does make me feel like I’ve closed some sort of circle,” he said. “And I came home and everyone’s OK. My friends still love me and everything still feels right.”
Congratulations to Dave Chappelle for a well-deserved honor, and thanks for speaking up in support of some of our most important rights.
Ping!....................
I like him.
The funny thing about him saying the only way to get gun control was to make sure every African American had a CCP.
Hell, I would be thrilled if every citizen was legally allowed to carry, trained to do so in the same numbers as they drove cars.
I think more than half of the issues we see in urban areas would just disappear either by Darwin Award winners or the axiom; An armed society is a polite society.
Oh and relation to his special.... This is bird shot. It won’t kill a man. It will just “pepper him up”. This is buck shot. This will kill a man. So, do you want the bird shot, or the buck shot.
Smart dude. He’s also quit doing stand-up on college campuses because he’s sick and tired of getting beaten-up by twittermobs over political correctness.
You can’t do stand-up and remain PC.
Damn right...there’s a reason why any law abiding citizen should be armed. That goes double for law abiding black people...who are more likely to be the victims of crime than are white people.
I don’t care your reason for having one, but don’t espouse the ignorant idea that they aren’t necessary or that only law enforcement and the military should have them. I’ve always like Chappelle like I liked Bruce Willis and Stallone. As they’ve become more established, I understand why.
He is hilarious when he does those bits as a white guy. Being white myself I guess I’m supposed to be outraged, but I’m not.
Worried about a guy with a rifle? Best buy a rifle and not a shotgun.
And practice. Lots.
“I would be thrilled if every citizen was legally allowed to carry, trained to do so in the same numbers as they drove cars.”
Hmmm... “Motor-Voter” would register any driver to vote... How about we start a “Riding Shotgun” movement?...
[As HeadOn stirs pot vigorously while smiling...]
Give me a break.
Chappelle felt inadequately protected when he saw a guy with a shotgun on rural farmland??? And he hates guns???
Why’d he move there in the first place?
Hmm, that might cover the registration part, but someone still would have to train them. How about some “Big Brother-Big Sister” type organization, where every gun owner “adopts” a neophyte and takes him to the range once or twice a month?
“Chappelle felt inadequately protected when he saw a guy with a shotgun on rural farmland??? And he hates guns???”
It was a comedy bit, I don’t know how serious he was.
“Why’d he move there in the first place?”
His family is originally from there, and when he had kids he didn’t want to raise them in the city.
Excuse me, it wasn’t JUST rural farmland. Please read more carefully. It was “Chappelle’s rural farmland”. If I saw someone crossing my back forty with a rifle I might want to know why or wherefore. Especially if they are hunting on my property without my permission.
I'm stealing that.
Chapelle grew up in that area.
“If I saw someone crossing my back forty with a rifle I might want to know why or wherefore. Especially if they are hunting on my property without my permission.”
Exactly. And confronting an openly armed trespasser when you yourself are unarmed? Good reason to buy your own weapon and get some training.
I don’t know Chapelle’s area, but I’ve lived in rural Pennsylvania where the State Police response time was considered ‘good’ if they got there 40 minutes after the 911 call.
Chappelle’s recent stand-up skit on Jussie Smollett was hilarious and spot-on.
We moved from Suburban CA to semi Rural MS earlier this Year.
One of the Trick or Treaters who showed up on Halloween was a Kid wearing Fatigues with an AR-15 slung over his Shoulder.
He was in a group of Kids, some as young as six.
At first I thought it was a Replica or Toy, until I took a closer look. It warmed my Heart.
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