Dave Chappelle urges Trump to have empathy for displaced people ‘in the Palisades or Palestine’

Comedian returned as host of long-running variety show Saturday Night Live

Comedian Dave Chappelle hosted the first 2025 episode of Saturday Night Live. AP

Comedian Dave Chappelle made a plea to incoming US President Donald Trump, saying: "The whole world is counting on you".

Chappelle, who hosted the first 2025 episode of the long-running variety show Saturday Night Live, delivered the opening monologue, touching on everything from the wildfires in Los Angeles, which has gutted many neighbourhoods including the affluent Pacific Palisades area, to P Diddy and Palestine.

"The presidency is no place for petty people. Donald Trump, I know you watch the show. Remember, whether people voted for you or not, they’re all counting on you,” he said at the end of the monologue. "Whether they like you or not, they’re all counting on you. Please do better next time. Do not forget your humanity and please have empathy for displaced people, whether they’re in the Palisades or Palestine.”

Chappelle, who was hosting for the fourth time, prefaced the message with an anecdote about former US president Jimmy Carter, who died last month.

Chappelle on stage during the Abu Dhabi Comedy Week in May, 2024. Photo: Abu Dhabi Comedy Week

“I was in the Middle East years ago, after I quit my show, I was trying to find out what I wanted to do with my life,” Chappelle, 51, said. “While I was there, Jimmy Carter flew to Israel.”

It was around the time Carter's controversial book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, was released in 2006, Chappelle recalled. “People were very mad in Israel. And while he was there, Jimmy Carter said: ‘I want to go to the Palestinian territory. And the Israeli government said, ‘It’s too dangerous. And if you go, we cannot protect you.’

“I will never forget the images of a former American president walking with little to no security while thousands of Palestinians were cheering him on,” Chappelle said. “When I saw that picture, it brought tears to my eyes. I said, ‘I don’t know if that’s a good president, but that right there, I am sure, is a great man.’ It made me feel very proud.”

Chappelle has been outspoken about the suffering of Palestinians ever since the Israel-Gaza War began. Last year, during his show in Abu Dhabi, he described Israel's actions in Gaza as "genocide" to cheers from the audience.

"What is happening in Gaza is a direct result of anti-Semitism in the West,” he said.

“If you are in America, the best thing you can do is to make American Jews feel safe, feel loved and supported so they can know they don't have to support a country that is committing genocide just to feel safe.”

In 2023, some fans walked out of his show in Boston after he said Israel was committing "war crimes" in Gaza, which also drew cheers. In the same show, Chappelle also condemned the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, and accused the US government for aiding Israel.