With just two episodes left before it airs its much ballyhooed three-hour primetime 50th anniversary special, few had “Lorne Michaels books a controversial host” on their Saturday Night Live bingo cards, but the legendary sketch show has always thrived on the expected, and controversy in and of itself is part of its legacy.
So yes, Dave Chappelle is set to host SNL for the fourth time on January 18th, 2025. Adding to the surprise is the fact that each of the other three times he’s hosted have been in November, on the Saturday following Election Day: in 2019, 2020 and 2022.
When Bill Burr was booked to host this season’s post-election episode, it was widely assumed that the show had decided to distance itself from Chappelle, who’s faced increased criticism in recent years for his refusal to stop joking about trans people and other marginalized groups in his act.
If that was the calculus in November, it no longer appears to be. More likely, it probably never was—at least not for Lorne Michaels.
For one, despite the backlash against him, Chappelle appeared to still be in good graces with SNL‘s creator and longtime EP as recently as a year ago, when—for reasons that remain unclear—the comic showed up unannounced for goodnights at the end of the show’s January 27, 2024 episode hosted by Dakota Johnson. That in and of itself stirred up controversy at the time, but it tracks with recent comments Michaels has made regarding “cancel culture.”
Recalling the controversy surrounding Shane Gillis’ hiring and swift firing from SNL in 2019, Michaels told The Hollywood Reporter last year, “He got beat up for things that he’d done years earlier, and the overreaction to it was so stunning.”
“You’re judging everybody on every position they have on every issue as opposed to, ‘Are they any good at the thing they do?’” Michaels added. “I do think that period is winding down and, I believe, the people who do awful things will still be punished.”
Of course, a key difference remains between the backlash Gillis faced in 2019 and the one that Chappelle continues to weather: Gillis’ remarks were in the past, while Chappelle continues to stand by his. That, no doubt, will continue to stir protest from some viewers and critics.
Seems like old times.
Tapping Dave to host is only “controversial” to folks in their Brooklyn Bubble.
The rest of us don’t care – we like Dave and see him as a voice for marginalized people.
Preach.
A voice for marginalized people? Jesus fucking Christ.
Something tells me the list of things you don’t care about is very long… and generally includes things other than yourself and your money.
Men in dresses are not marginalized people. Women forced to play sports against men, share bathrooms, homeless shelters, prison cells with men, lose scholarships & jobs to men who say they are women – these women are marginalized. Thanks to Dave for being brave enough to speak truth to power.
A handful of mentally ill perverts does not a controversy make.