According to Page Six, part of the staff at 30 Rock is worried about inviting Dave Chappelle to host “Saturday Night Live” this weekend.
Apparently, some of the staff writers are so angry that a comedian who has made jokes targeting transgender and homosexual people has been chosen to helm the iconic show that they’re choosing not to participate in writing this episode.
“They’re not going to do the show,” an insider said. “But none of the actors are boycotting.”
However, when we attended writers’ meetings this week, Chappelle’s representative told us that there was no indication of a boycott.
Last week, “SNL” announced that comedian Dave Chappelle will host the show for a third time on Nov. 12, with musical guests Black Star.
Chappelle’s recent Netflix special “The Closer” has angered some viewers because of the comedian’s jokes aimed at the trans community. For example, he intentionally misgendered a trans friend and fellow comedian for laughs.
On Tuesday, Chappelle was meeting with writers and producers at 30 Rock, and his rep told us “there was no evidence of a boycott.”
“The room was full of writers. They all pitched ideas and they seemed very excited about it…. Dave is looking to have some fun,” they said.
Celeste Yim, an “SNL” writer took to Instagram stories after the announcement and said: “I’m trans and non-binary. I use they/them pronouns. Transphobia is murder and it should be condemned.”
It is still unknown if they are joining the writers boycotting this week’s show or if their statement was concerning Chappelle. We have yet to hear back from them.
In September, the show made history when it announced its first out non-binary cast member Molly Kearney. Kearney has not yet addressed Chappelle’s upcoming show publicly.
Terra Field, an ex-Netflix exec who sued the streaming service claiming they retaliated against them for speaking out against Chappelle, wrote on Twitter about the announcement: “Wait I thought I canceled him. Is it possible cancel culture isn’t a real thing.”
Neither Chappelle nor “SNL” have acknowledged or responded to the remarks made on social media.
