Dave Chappelle Almost Cut This Infamous ‘Chappelle’s Show’ Skit
Believe it or not, but it’s been more than a decade since the end of Dave Chappelle’s groundbreaking Comedy Central series, Chappelle’s Show, which saw him offer hilarious social commentary on issues that are still a problem today.
The show has truly stood the test of time, immortalized by various sketches. But one of his most-talked-about sets almost never happened.
Chappelle almost cut this ‘Chappelle’s Show’ skit
The comedian almost axed a mock music video, titled “Piss on You,” where he impersonated singer R. Kelly.
The skit aired in 2003, a few months after a video surfaced allegedly showing the “Ignition” singer having sex with and urinating on an underage girl. (Kelly was later found not guilty on 14 charges of child pornography.)
Chappelle’s sketch included lines such as “Your body, your body is a port-o-potty,” and “The only thing to make my life complete is when I turn your face into a toilet seat.”
The sketch was apparently so risky and uncomfortable that even Chappelle considered getting rid of it.
“I’m not even gonna lie. That was the one sketch I was gonna cut,” he told Hot 97 in 2017. “But then I watched it and said, ‘Man, this is so funny. … So, we left it in there.”
The skit met an onslaught of criticism
As you can imagine, people weren’t happy with Chappelle, accusing him of exploiting teenage sexual abuse and normalizing Kelly’s alleged behavior.
Aisha Harris of The New York Times was among the critics, writing in 2019 that it “compartmentalizes the Kelly allegations.”
The sketch received renewed attention (and criticism) the same year when it was featured in the Lifetime documentary, Surviving R. Kelly, which detailed sexual abuse accusations against the singer. The allegations date back to the 1990s.
R. Kelly reported reaction to Chappelle’s skit was heated
Chappelle’s Show co-creator Neal Brennan told The Breakfast Club back in January that R. Kelly got so mad that he wanted to “fight” Chappelle.”
“R. Kelly wanted to fight Dave,” Brennan explained. “His goons stepped to Dave in Chicago, and Dave’s goons intervened. The goons negotiated.”
Chappelle shared a similar story the same month. According to TMZ, he said at a comedy show that the singer and his goons confronted him after attending a Common concert in Chicago.
“How you gonna do a video of me peeing on b*tches like that?” Chappelle claimed R. Kelly asked, to which Chappelle responded, “How are you gonna make a video like that?”
As Complex notes, R. Kelly told GQ in 2016 that he’d never seen the sketch and that he’d never heard of the comedian, despite wearing a Chappelle’s Show shirt to the 2005 VMAs. So, it was a wild revelation.
R. Kelly did not respond to the claims. As of writing, he is in jail on sexual abuse charges.
But Chappelle is used to backlash. He recently faced a bunch of it over his latest Netflix special, Sticks and Stones, where he made jokes that many have described as misogynistic, homophobic, and downright insensitive.
