Comedian Dave Chappelle is no stranger to racism in America. While he’s successful, Chappelle still has to deal with issues affecting African-Americans daily. On Twitter, comedian Kenny DeForest told a story about Chappelle educating someone about racism at a past show.

A Surprise Performance

In January 2015, Chappelle made his way to Brooklyn’s Knitting Factory to have a good time. His friend Kevin Hart was in town hosting Saturday Night Live that night. After a while, Chappelle decided to hop on stage to deliver a surprise set for the unsuspecting audience. Chappelle asked the audience for a subject. One subject sticking with the comedian was police brutality. Six months before his appearance, Eric Garner’s death rocked the nation.

Chappelle began angrily discussing how much police brutality affected him. “I remember he said, ‘I thought body cams would help, but what good is video evidence if y’all don’t care?,’” DeForest said on Twitter. Unfortunately, someone in the crowd had an issue with Chappelle’s material. “A clearly privileged white girl (she had a wide-brimmed felt hat for chrissakes) shouts ‘Life’s hard, sorry ‘bout it!’ and it takes the air completely out of the room. A collective gasp,” DeForest said on Twitter. “Chappelle zeros in on her. ‘What did you say?’ She repeats it. Chappelle starts going in.”

Breaking It Down

Comedians are known for taking down hecklers in the crowd. Chappelle has dealt with plenty of hecklers in his illustrious career. Instead of embarrassing this woman, Chappelle did something unexpected. “He starts educating the crowd on the history of black people and the police. He talked about slave patrols and Rodney King and Watts and Emmett Till and Black Wall Street. He talked about Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, and he talked about John Crawford III,” DeForest said on Twitter.

After the performance, Chappelle went backstage to cool down. The heckler managed to approach the comedian to admit she were wrong. “Hat girl speaks first. ‘I just wanted to say I’m sorry for what I said and thank you for educating me. I was ignorant before, but I want you to know I learned from you tonight and I won’t say things like that anymore,’” DeForest shared on Twitter.

Chappelle simply wanted this to be a learning experience for the lady. “Chappelle responds ‘You’re ok. That’s all we can ask. Know better, do better,'” DeForest stated on Twitter. Following their exchange, Chappelle took photos with the lady. The comedian wanted her to be part of the solution in diminishing police brutality.

Netflix Is A Joke/YouTube

Social Distance Comedy

While Chappelle hasn’t confirmed if this story was real, the comedian still comments on these issues today. Chappelle recently released a stand-up special on YouTube titled 8:46. The title refers to the amount of time former police officer Derek Chauvin kneeled on George Floyd’s neck. Floyd died after the incident, which lasted eight minutes and 46 seconds. For Chappelle, the time has a strong connection to him. The comedian was born at 8:46 a.m. on August 24, 1973.

The special didn’t showcase Chappelle in his typical hysterical self. While jokes were made, this was one of the most serious things Chappelle has ever done. The comedian filmed the special on June 6 in Yellow Springs, Ohio. The show only featured 100 people in attendance. With the coronavirus still around, people had to wear masks and get their temperatures checked.

For Chappelle fans in the region, this was the first of several intimate comedy shows. With everything going on, Chappelle knew people needed to have a laugh. Comedians Michelle Wolf and Gabe Kea also joined Chappelle for some special performances. As long as police brutality is still an issue, Chappelle will continue to speak out.