Patton Oswalt Defends Dave Chappelle After He Walks Off Stage
Patton Oswalt to the rescue once again.
The 44-year-old comedian recently came to the defense of Dave Chappelle, who walked off the stage during his set at the Comcast Theater in Hartford, Connecticut due to heckling.
Various media outlets reported that the 40-year-old Chappelle’s Show star had a “meltdown” during the gig, which was part of the Funny or Die-sponsored Oddball Comedy and Curiosity Festival. But people at the show explained that Chappelle repeatedly asked the crowd to calm down so he could tell his jokes. Instead, the audience continued to shout at him to perform some of his most popular routines from the show.
According to Ebony writer Lesli-Ann Lewis, Chappelle opened the set with some Paula Deen jokes that were well-received, but then crowd members started calling out references to his past work. Chappelle waited for the crowd to calm down, which they didn’t.
“I’ve been up here a while now and I thought it was me but now I ‘m sure it’s you. There is definitely something wrong with you,” he said. After awhile, Chappelle grabbed his cigarettes and water and sat on stage. He even read an excerpt from an audience member’s book. After being booed and given the finger, Chappelle said, “You are booing yourself. I want you to go home and look in the mirror and say ‘boo,’ that’s how I feel about you.”
Friday, Patton Oswalt tweeted in Chappelle’s defense and chastised the crowd for not letting him do his set.
Dear Dave Chappelle’s fans: He’s one of the best comedians working, & you’re not letting him do what he loves. Stop being assholes.
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) August 30, 2013
Chappelle’s touring now, trying to do his usual, brilliant stuff, and the crowds are screaming, “I’m Rick James, bitch!” Idiots.
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) August 30, 2013
Oswalt even told users who tweeted that they were at the show and that Chappelle was “hardly heckled” that they were “part of the problem.
.@mattobrien37 In that Tweet, you just perfectly illustrated why people like you are the problem.
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) August 30, 2013
Audience members at other shows during the tour said Dave Chappelle’s set was great, that the crowd was respectful, and that the people in Hartford missed out because of their rudeness.
Chappelle isn’t the only person Patton Oswalt has defended this week. He also threw his support behind Ben Affleck as Batman, saying that every actor does bad movies during their career, but Affleck managed to come back better than he was before.
“A Batman portrayed by someone who’s tasted humiliation and a reversal of all personal valences — kind of like Grant Morrison’s ‘Zen warrior’ version of Batman, post-ARKHAM ASYLUM, who was, in the words of Superman, ‘…the most dangerous man on the planet,'” Oswalt said. “Think for a second and admit that Ben Affleck is closer to THAT top-shelf iteration of The Dark Knight than pretty much anyone in Hollywood right now.”
[Photo credit: s_bukley / Shutterstock.com]
