Dave Chappelle reportedly has onstage clash with fans in Hartford
August 29, 2013 Bram Teitelman Dave Chappelle, Features, News
Although the Dave Chappelle-headlined Funny or Die Oddball Festival is only four dates old, it ran into some trouble tonight in Hartford. According to an audience member that was at the show, after performing for about 10 minutes, Chappelle stopped his routine, claiming that people in front were making too much noise. For the next 25 minutes, he sat on a stool, smoking, reading a book and making idle chat until he fulfilled his time allotment.
A check on Twitter reveals some disgruntled comedy fans. The caption to the above photo on Instagram reads “That’s Dave chappelle walking off stage after the Hartford crowd ruined the show and he left us without a show…”
Below are some tweets from concertgoers:
Dave Chappelle just walked off the stage and told the DJ to play New Slaves. The crowd continued to boo and heckle
— Jen Lo (@lesellele) August 30, 2013
I paid $50 to watch dave chappelle sit on a stool and smoke cigarettes — _ (@LuchnessMonster) August 30, 2013
So Dave Chapelle just went on stage, told jokes for around 3 minutes, and the audience wouldnt stop yelling things at him so he stopped — Mike Wellman (@mikewellman88) August 30, 2013
Dave chappelle has been on stage 30 minutes, and has not told one joke. He’s reading a book and smoking.
— joemoriarty (@joemoriarty) August 30, 2013
Yet amid all the disappointed tweets are some supporters. One Twitter user said “People in Hartford suck. Was at the Dave Chappelle show tonight and be couldn’t get a word out!” There are a handful of other tweets saying that the crowd was disrespectful and loud and Chappelle did the right thing by not performing, but they’re far outnumbered by those that want a refund and feel like they got ripped off. We’ll see if or how the rest of the tour continues.
UPDATE: Here’s some video of Chappelle’s performance shot by a YouTube user. In the beginning, he’s talking about one of Richard Pryor’s final performances, which he opened for. That leads to the rest of his ‘performance.’ Did he rip off the crowd, or did they turn against him before giving him a chance to settle in to his groove? Let us know what you think in the comments section.
Update: At a later Oddball date Chappelle addressed the night stating that crowd was extremely unruly.
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