Dave Chappelle was not trying to be funny during his first stage performance in 87 days, an impassioned, 27-minute set that spoke to the cultural reckoning triggered by the killing of George Floyd.
Chappelle’s special, “8:46” -- named for the amount of time a Minneapolis police officer held his knee to Floyd’s neck before Floyd died by asphyxiation -- arrived unannounced via the Netflix Is a Joke streaming channel on YouTube with nothing more than this short, written intro from the performer: “Normally I wouldn’t show you something so unrefined, I hope you understand.”
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