The Chappelle Theory
 

Have people seen this yet? Here's the link: http://www.chappelletheory.com/index.html

It details why Chappelle's Show didn't finish it's third season and implicates Bill Cosby and Oprah, among others, in the harrasment of Chappelle to get him to quit his show.

I don't know what to make of it. And I didn't think I could hate Oprah anymore than I already do....

This really should be moved to Paranoia until it can be further proved correct.

My take on is that Chappelle is suffering from the same thing that the guy in A Beautiful Mind is suffering and that one day, someone will take this story and make film about it.

Wow. That's pretty far fetched. Al Sharpton stealthing into dave chappelle's house in the middle of the night and having his picture taken above chappelle's sleeping children? Seems like its probably bullshit.

Far fetched, or a draft sketch?

That and Oprah waking him at night were the best parts of this story.


"I'm Oprah Winfrey bitch!"

Interesting. A nice little conspiracy. The first thing I recalled reading this was in the movie "RAW" (Eddie Murphy's stand-up concert movie) he talked about how Cosby called him.

There is probably truth that the people mentioned in the article were indeed upset with his act, however some of the details sounded overly paranoidal. And in the intro the writer says he wasn't writing for Chappelle, yet he knew some very initmate details.

I find there maybe some truth in it, but overall I have a great inclination to believe this is pure fiction. People love a great conspiracy story and this would explain Chappelle's breakup.

You need look no further than when Whoopie started out doing her onstage routines playing a crackhead, or "In Living Color" where Wayans decimated everyone listed on that list and had a far bigger audience when doing it.

I always thought Chappelle's show was a modern take of "In Living Color" and less superior.

On the other hand it could be the people who took down Dave, are holding "In Living Color"'s syndi rights and preventing it from being played anywhere it would get seen again.

This has picqued my interest, though.

Definitely a sketch in the making.

I agree this would be a fun one for Paranoia, otherwise

<TT>Over the last two years, they had watched warily as Chappelle's Show had become Comedy Central's premiere show, eclipsing even South Park and The Daily Show in terms of buzz.</tt>

Erm... no. Chapelle got some buzz, but eclipse the Daily Show? If the webmaster wants to use planetary jingo, The Daily Show would be Jupiter and Chapelle would be Io.

Furthermore, BET's Robert Johnson acting as an arbiter of taste among the Black community is laughable. Let's see, he fired Tavis Smiley so he could replace an hour of issues on BET with more "booty-shaking music videos!" -Huey, Boondocks

Well, "Paranoia"..., "Entertainment"..., could be either so I posted it here. I think the general feeling around the web so far is that it is a marketing campaign for season 3, or at least what they have of season 3.

I'd like Chappelle to give a statement on it, if it ever catches enough attention (if he didn't contribute to writing it, that is).

Thought maybe the owner could be found but all that turned up for that site was this:
Domain Name: CHAPPELLETHEORY.COM
Registrar: NETWORK SOLUTIONS, LLC.
Whois Server: whois.networksolutions.com
Referral URL: http://www.networksolutions.com
Name Server: NS.WEBLINC.COM
Name Server: NS2.WEBLINC.COM
Status: REGISTRAR-LOCK
Updated Date: 16-dec-2005
Creation Date: 06-oct-2005
Expiration Date: 06-oct-2006
And this:
Registrant:
WebLinc, LLC
340 North 12th Street
Suite 200
Philadelphia, PA 19107
US

Domain Name: CHAPPELLETHEORY.COM

Administrative Contact, Technical Contact:
WebLinc, LLC dns@weblinc.com
340 North 12th Street
Suite 200
Philadelphia, PA 19107
US
215-925-1800 fax: 215-925-1999

Record expires on 06-Oct-2006.
Record created on 06-Oct-2005.
Database last updated on 20-Dec-2005 14:44:40 EST.

Domain servers in listed order:

NS.WEBLINC.COM 216.158.33.194
NS2.WEBLINC.COM 216.183.124.116

So at least it was probably NOT Chappelle writing that

nvm you beat me to the phone and address

aah the beauty of private DNS listings :)

moved to paranoia

Ahhh man, now noone's going to see this. Oprah told you to do this didn't she :)

No it was Bill Cosby. He came to Cynthetiq in his offices at MTV and put the squeeze on him.

With Farrakhan's henchmen, no doubt.

The DNS listing doesn't prove that Chapelle didn't write it, it only proves that he isn't the only one who could've. Obfuscating DNS listings is easy as all get out.

All the same (and even though I've always suspected that Oprah is really a heartless, evil bitch), I'm skeptical. Seems to me like it's more likely that Chappelle's success was actually getting to him. And all of these anonymous sources cause even more doubt, for me. I'm left wondering how it is that the author of this piece knew just who to talk to in order to find out all of these intimate details and that he just happened to track down folks who were sitting next to Chapelle and his dad in the restaurant, who saw the 'Black Crusaders' entering and leaving hotels, etc.

Did anyone bother to read the disclaimer:

Now - they could be saying it's a satire or....

maybe they are saying the conspirators got to them and made them SAY it was a satire! :eek:

Ha! Either way I like it. Good story. It would make a good movie.

I bet Bill Cosby and Oprah paid for this site... disinformation and all that.

Bastards.

I heard that Chappelle had something writ into his contract that no matter if he does the show or not, he gets paid; no questions asked. If this is true, then I assume Chappelle just got his, and laughed his ass off all the way to the bank.

a really good theory. I do like paranoia. I sure hope it's as far fetched as it sounds.

:lol: :lol:


sweetpea

Yeah, can't wait for the movie to come out. I'm looking forward to it.

Is it even possible to pump a signal into a single household like the theory claims Oprah did to Dave?

I spent a lot of time reading this last night. I never found the quoted disclaimer. In any case.. good story. Fortunately I'm not in a position to care.

The laywers in question were Bill Cosby and Oprah's.

Dave Chappelle was on "Inside the Actor's Studio" last night and pretty much dispelled any of these theories. He quit because he's burnt out on fame and wanted some time off. (My words) Well anyways here's a link with some video:

http://www.bravotv.com/Inside_the_Ac...ppelle_2.shtml

Again, who cares if it is a draft, theory, truth, whatever. The end result. He is FINALLY off the air. Worthless, irresponsible entertainer.

Saw his show one time....and never was inclined to see it again

Easily the best Inside the Actor's Studio I have ever seen. Chappelle has truly been given the torch by Pryor.

How exactly is Chappelle irresponsible?

Every entertainer including actors, muscians, comedians have a certain amount of responsibility to the general public as well as their close followers. You don't just see muscians going out there and making songs telling kids to go murder everyone in site. (Just an example of responsiblity in entertainment.) Does Chapelle take any responsibility in the community to further racial relations for the positive? Not at all. He exploits the negatives of pretty much every facid of race and makes his "skits" into a common household persona that is relatively easy for impressionable minds to mimic and believe what they are saying is ok.

For every step forward that responsible citizens and leaders in the movement of racial integrated are making, chapelle is single handedly taking them 2 steps back. People have worked way too hard towards racial equality to have some fool like chapelle turn it around, or at the least, slow down progress, all just for ratings for his show and money in his pocket.

That my friend is irresponsible.

Ah, so you obviously didn't see him on Inside the Actor's Studio. Because you're dead wrong about his motives. Otherwise he would have never left for Africa and walked away from all that money. For every genius out there is someone who doesn't understand it.

It looks like Oprah got to ZeRoGRaViTY, too...

Coppertop my good friend. If you believe everything you see on television and especially what everyone says on tv then *sigh.

I did see inside the Actor's studio with chapelle. He did make himself sound like a decent forward progressing person who doesn't just care about money. Unfortunatly, he cannot take back the negative influence he has already set upon the viewing public. That is what I am talking about. One cannot just go and do wrong, then 4 years later come on one scripted interview and answer every question positively to save face against critics. The damage is already done. Do you think that the 12 year olds that have already watch his show and are already corrupted in one way or another from the skits watch the Actor's studio to see his half ass excuses?

He may be a comic genious. It does take some smarts to get a cable tv show to offer you 50 million dollars for 2 seasons worth of work. Sure, but does that make what he is doing responsible in bettering a society all in all? He doesn't even have to be responsible for bettering society. JUST STOP HURTING IT! I'm sorry, I just have higher standards for whom I consider a genious. Not just a genious in the sense of How-to make ones bank account deeper.

Actually he sounded like someone who had already made his money and didn't have to make any more...

Hahahahahahahahaha this made me laugh so much. Entertainment being responsible? Are you kidding me? Have you been to the movies recently? Do you actually watch television? Ever tune in a radio? There are few pieces of "entertainment" that exhibit any kind of real "responsibility" to those who watch and interact with them. Chapelle is FAR from the only person doing it, and even farther from being the worst offender.

If you seriously think his show is BAD for race relations, I want you to back that up with something- because I don't buy it for a second. If you want, go start a thread somewhere. You don't think it helps break down some walls of misconceptions, help introduce laughter in a way that eases odd situations? I think it uses satire to help everyone laugh about what they're so hung up on, and can help people understand the absurdities of racial bigotry... because we're all funny in our ways, and what makes us different is exactly what makes us all great. We don't want everyone in the world to be the same, that'd be boring as hell.

@ zero:

This coming from the guy who says parents are responsible for children & their gaming habits? (from here)

I am sorry man, you cannot have it both ways. By your own argument in the other thread, the parents of a 12 years old child (in your scenario) should be responsible for letting them be influenced by Chappelle in such a manner. Chappelle is not at fault, just as you argue video games are not.

Thank you very much, Coppertop. I believe zero's argument has been put in its place now.

[QUOTE]Chapelle is FAR from the only person doing it, and even farther from being the worst offender.

Understood that chapelle is not the only person doing it. Just because others do it too that makes it right? Also please quote me where I said he was the WORST offender. Not that him being the worst or most mild makes any kind of difference.

Break down walls of misconceptions? LoL His show creates more misconceptions about different walks of lifes than anything. (I won't go into that but I will start a thread on examples if someone else is interested.) Last part about everyone being the same would be boring...Agreed. Just not seeing the connection to what ANY of my arguements were.

..Umm, last I thought, parents are responsible for their children. And if they believed that a game promoted violence within their child, then just simply do not allow them to play it.

I'm sorry I just believe that a show of the caliber of chapelle's, being placed directly after a cartoon on a station called Comedy Central, that is very popular amongst teens and younger kids has a significant amount of more influence and impact towards a childs manner and attitude than a game where you shoot aliens by sneaking up on them and getting a H/S.

Again, I never said chapelle was 100 percent at fault and is the sole influence on our culture and society. He just doesn't help the situation.

But, I do see where someone saying "I'm Rick James Bitch" about 15 times in a 4 minute skit could be hilarious and that individual could be considered a genious. *sigh*

hmmmmmmm this thread has taken off in a different manner than I thought it would.

I think it's pretty good that this jerk of a comedian stood up for himself and ran away when people were trying to rule his creativity. From what I have seen of Chapelle, I am not a fan, but I do agree with his actions. As crazy as it may seem, running away to Africa showed the people (whomever they were) that he wasn't going to put up with their crap and he'd rather do standup than make a few more million doing a high-stress TV show.

People are saying that his leaving is what is wrong with society today, that he's running away and ditching responsibility. I do not agree with your standpoint. AT ALL.

At times, society places so many restrictions on a person that they feel they have no jurisdiction in their own lives. Suicide is the only escape that many find. Chapelle had enough brains to run away from the stress to somepace where no one would recognize him or expect anything out of him. He took a vacation, a real vacation, and did his own thing. Connecting with yourself rather than the needs that others place upon you is the most essential part of life.

You are unable to make the kind of a difference you are supposed to make in the world if you are simply listening to everyone else's dream.

Good for Chapelle.

I hope that the narrow-minded fools that drove him to this extreme will take such a hiatus themselves.

zero, you want to have it both ways. You lose credibility when you say one thing in one thread and the opposite in another. I suspect you simply do not like Chappelle's show and are scapegoating him - exactly what you deride others for doing a la video games. Sorry, but I'm calling bullshit on you.

How did you do that? I am always interested in learning new computer kung-fu.

and

I do not consider Dave to be irrisposible, nor do i think he has had a negative impact. Quite the opposite, in fact. He is not perpetuating stereo-types as much as he is demanding they be re-examined.
All of the things he says are true. (If a bit rude.) The skit about how the white guy moves in with a family of blacks and then gets victimized is true in that MANY blacks are indeed victimized. by other blacks. (Look at the stats, blacks kill each other by the thousands.) Or it could be read to mean that he feels victimized by white culture. (Purely speculation, but it is important to realize it is his show, his perspective...etc.)

This is the crux of the argument. There are people who believe that by joking about (usually through the use of) racist or ridiculous jokes/language, you perpetuate that language or behaviors. This argument allows people to deride Chapelle, Eminem, et al.. for being racist/sexist/etc.

However, I personally believe that closer examination reveals that their very USE of the language and slang in a silly or humorous manner lessens their use in a negative manner. I call this satire;

If Chapelle or Eminem stood on a soapbox and told us how ridiculous race-differences were and how we shouldn't beat and mock women, no one would listen. It's a sad part of humanity, but everyone would dismiss it as common knowledge without truly thinking about whether they upheld the principle. However, by offering it in satire, it's ridiculousness is unveiled -- without directly attacking it. While I'm not very familiar with Chappelle, I can offer many citations from Eminem's lyrics which were labelled "racist/sexist/bigoted" by politically correct persons (as above) which were quite the opposite under a satirical examination.

Like I said; some of you believe that even saying the word bitch or nigger perpetuates the word and the connotation of denigrating the two groups. That's fine. I think, however, that by using it in unique ways -- such as the borrowed "nigga" to mean a black compatriot-- it cheapens the use of "nigger". A racist calling you a "nigger" is drastically less offense if you call your friends "niggas" regularly. It forces the bigot/racist/sexist to come up with new ways of insulting you, rather than riling you with the same barbs repeatedly. Similarly, if you say "bitch please" regularly to your friends, an agitator attempting to rile you by saying "bitch please" has a nominal effect. These are poor examples, and I realize it's an unpopular belief (Oprah strongly disagrees with me), but I think this differentiation is the dividing line between people who support satire as a valid literary technique for political change, and those who don't. (And consequently, those who support Chappelle, Eminem, and other provacteurs as artists AND bastions of social change.)

Not to derail, or anything..

Jinn, that wasn't a derail at all. That indeed is the crux of this difference of opinion on the content of Chappelle.

As sometime people can't see the forest for the trees, some people can't see the satire for the humour. I like to think of satirists as court jesters... they have the ability to say what needs to be said, but they do it in jest. There is always the risk that the Sovreign will not be amused and order an execution.

Well here's the "truth"............ Interesting how "white people" own everything, yet with $50 MILLION more than I will ever see in this lifetime, Dave feels he couldn't express himself the way he wanted to. Hell, for that money he could produce his own DVD's afterward and say whatever he wanted to and see how well they sell.

Personally, once he plays the race card...... he's nothing but a racist fuck in my eyes, and I don't care if his career goes anywhere or not. It's not "personal vision", it's racist, hate filled propaganda he's spewing and there is not 1 excuse for it.

$50 MILLION and he wants to use the race card.... what a fucking racist asshole.

For $50 MILLION, I'm sure even a "black man" in "white owned" America can find a place to

Chapelle on Oprah.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...020302967.html

I bought season one and season two of the Dave Chapelle show. Superbly funny comedy and spoofs of popular culture and inner city life. We will probably never know for sure the many reasons why he went to Africa, but I am amazed at the courage to return. He probably had an identity crisis. I think I might also if I did spoofs a lot and had to act funny all the time. Too much pressure for most people's shoulders.

Jonathan

>>>Similarly, if you say "bitch please" regularly to your friends, an agitator attempting to rile you by saying "bitch please" has a nominal effect. These are poor examples, and I realize it's an unpopular belief (Oprah strongly disagrees with me)>>>

A lot it is tone of voice. I have said "bitch" to people in many different ways. It is always the emotional push behind the words. Citing lyrics and transcripts of a show is not enough. One must see the show and hear the tone. Comedy especially is hard to figure out sometimes.

Jonathan

>>>Do you think that the 12 year olds that have already watch his show and are already corrupted in one way or another>>>

I wanted to add that the Chapelle show is rated TV-14, and again, all parents are at fault for letting a 12 year old watch the show without either watching it with them, or explaining what the show is. That said, 9pm might be too early for a show like Chapelle's but Dave Chapelle did not choose to put on at that time. Comedy Central would have to be taken to task for that issue. 10PM would be better. I also should point out that I live in a big city, so many people from the country might not "get" Dave's comedy show. I don't think people are "corrupted" by Chapelle's show. Every show influences people's idea of what humor is. I think most politicians are humors without intending to be. Every show I watch influences me in some way, but in the end, I make up my own mind about changing the channel if I don't like something. (^:

Jonathan

I refuse to believe a theorist who cannot spell check his own website, nor choose to have the grammatical wherewithal to capitalize his/her letters at the beginning of each sentence.