In 2022, an armed man rushed the stage during Dave Chappelle’s Los Angeles performance and attacked him.
Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk publicly came to the comedian’s defense in the aftermath.
On Saturday night, Chappelle stood on the stage at Madison Square Garden and raised Kirk’s assassination with the audience.
“I feel f*cked up saying this. It’s scary being a public speaker.
And I mean, look, ever since that guy Charlie Kirk got murdered, and I shouldn’t say this publicly but… I feel better,” Chappelle said.
He continued with another line. “I know I shouldn’t say that, but it’s just a feeling,” he added. He told the crowd the feeling explains why he has been in a good mood.
Reaction inside the arena split. Some audience members laughed, and others appeared hesitant to react.
Video of the moment spread on X over the weekend. Critics accused Chappelle of hypocrisy and insensitivity, and some of them compared it with his handling of another death.
After George Floyd died in 2020, Chappelle called it “tragic” and said there was a “lot to unpack.”
Other users suggested the clip might have stripped away context. Human Events Daily host Jack Posobiec then shared an account from a person who attended the show.
That person said Chappelle doubled down afterward, telling the room that Kirk was “looking up at us.”
The 2022 attack came after Chappelle drew widespread controversy for his 2021 Netflix special “The Closer,” which featured jokes about the LGBT community and transgenderism.
After the assault, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon declined to pursue charges against the attacker. Kirk responded on X.
“By refusing to charge the armed maniac who attacked Dave Chappelle on stage, George Gascon is sending a clear message that public acts of political violence are justifiable — and even encouraged — against anyone who dares speak out against The Regime. It’s Sinister & Un-American,” Kirk wrote.
X owner Elon Musk highlighted that earlier defense while reacting to Chappelle’s new remarks. “Shame, shame, shame on Chappelle,” Musk wrote.
Saturday was not the first time Chappelle discussed the assassination. He addressed it in his recent special, “Dave Chappelle: The Unstoppable,” and said it left him “shook.”
“This is another reason it’s hard to talk in America, because if you talk for a living and see Charlie Kirk get murdered that way, I’m gonna be honest, I was shook,” Chappelle said. “When all the information was still shoddy, they came out, they were like, ‘Apparently there were transgender messages inscribed on the bullet.’ I was like, ‘Oh no! I’m dead as fried chicken!'”
In that same special, Chappelle also criticized people on the right who likened Kirk’s killing to the murder of Martin Luther King Jr.
“And the whites were quick to say this. They said, ‘Charlie Kirk is this generation’s Martin Luther King.’ No, he’s not,” he added. “That’s a reach. You know, they both got murdered in a terrible fashion, they both got shot in the neck, but that’s about where those similarities end.”
On Sunday, Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, responded in a statement on X. She described the continued left-wing mockery of her husband’s assassination as “beyond disgusting.”
“My husband, Charlie Kirk, was killed in an act of political violence, something our two children and I will live with every day for the rest of our lives,” Erika wrote. “A culture that laughs at assassination is one of profound moral decay. It threatens the very foundation of our country and the principles that hold our democracy together.”
She ended the statement with a plea.
“You do not have to agree with someone’s politics to recognize the value of their life. This should not be so hard,” she added. “Political violence must never be something this country tolerates, excuses, or celebrates.”
