Dave Chappelle: Racist or Comedic Genius?

Our recent talks about racism and stereotyping in the media made me think of the Chappelle show the most. It was no coincidence that we watched a clip from one of the episodes in class because this show was the epitome of stereotyping the media. The one point that the show tried to make is that fact that stereotyping is everywhere that we look and unfortunately there is nothing that we can do about it. Dave Chappelle strived to bring out the humor in racial situations and, while many people laughed along with him, there were some that took his skits and dialogue personally. During the years that his television show was wildly popular among its viewers, Dave was receiving a lot of criticism and hate from different groups that believed he was insulting them. Even when he reassured them that the show was meant to be satirical, they threatened to force him off the air. There was no doubt that his skits were very controversial and seemed to always poke fun at least one different race, but through it I believe he successfully eased the tension among many people in a very racially driven media society. Even though he had to stop production of the show due to its criticism, many people still demand new material from him today. There is no doubt that when you are in a public environment, you always have to watch what you say or do because it is always open to criticism.