Netflix Drops New Dave Chappelle Special on YouTube comedy
Dave Chappelle began a new special on George Floyd by thanking "young people who have had the courage to go out and do all this amazing work, protesting.""I'm very proud of you," the comedian said in the show that Netflix dropped on its YouTube comedy channel. "You kids are excellent drivers. I'm comfortable in the back seat of the car. So, carry on young ones."
In Dave Chappelle’s new Netflix special 8:46 — which was posted to the Netflix Is A Joke YouTube channel in the early morning hours on Friday — he addresses the death of George Floyd. But he also criticizes some of the media reaction to it, including that of anchor Don Lemon.
The title of the special is the length of time that Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin had his knee on Floyd’s neck, a moment that was captured on video.
Chappell talked about Floyd, who died on May 25, after which Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin held his neck on his knee for 8 minutes and 46 seconds. In a video of the murder, Floyd said: "Please. Please. Please. I can't breathe."
Chauvin was fired by the police department and faces charges of second-degree murder, third-degree murder and manslaughter. Three other officers who were at the scene of Floyd's deadly arrest were also fired and charged with aiding and abetting murder.
In the special titled "8:46," in reference to how long Floyd was pinned to the ground, Chappelle told how during the Northridge earthquake in California in 1994, he feared he was going to die. "That earthquake couldn't have been more than 35 seconds," he said.
“When I watched that tape, I understood this man knew he was going to die,” Chappelle said. “People watched it. People filmed it. And for some reason that I still don’t understand, all police had their hands in their pockets. Who are you talking to? What are you signifying? That you can kneel on a man’s neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds and feel like you wouldn’t get the wrath of God? That is what is happening right now. It’s not for a single cop. It’s for all of it. all of it. I don’t mean to get heavy but we gotta say something.”
Floyd "thought he was gonna die. He knew he was gonna die. He called for his mother. He called for his dead mother," Chappelle said. “When I watched that tape, I understand this man knew he was gonna die."
He said the only other time he's witnessed someone call out for a relative who has died was when his father called out for his grandmother on his deathbed.
He said it took him a week before he could watch the video of Floyd being pinned to the ground and told the audience that he can't get the time 8 minutes and 46 seconds out of his head.
"I can’t get that number out of my head because it was my time of birth on my birth certificate,” Chappelle said. “I was born at 8:46 in the morning and they killed [Floyd] in eight minutes and 46 seconds."
He also touched on why some celebrities may not seem to be speaking out amid the protests.
"Answer me, do you want to see a celebrity right now?" Chappelle said. "Does it matter about celebrity? No. This is the streets talking for themselves. They don't need me right now. I kept my mouth shut, and I'll still keep my mouth shut, but don't think my silence is complicit."
Lemon also said that there was some irony that Chappelle’s special is called 8:46 and that “he is using this platform to talk about this.”
“We should all be challenged,” Lemon said, adding that their different point of view on whether celebrities should speak out is “a moment where we have two men of color, who have two big platforms, we are agreeing or disagreeing with each other and having a discussion, and people are actually paying attention.”
