Dave Chappelle blames ‘young, white alcoholic’ hecklers for Hartford, Conn. debacle, says he hopes North Korea drops bomb on city (original) (raw)

Dave Chappelle has declared war on Hartford — and the “young, white alcoholics” who caused him to walk out of in the middle of a set last week.

Days after abruptly halting his headlining act in response to hecklers at last Thursday’s Oddball Comedy & Curiosity Festival in Connecticut, the 40-year-old comedian referenced the incident during a show in Chicago.

“So much better than Hartford,” Chappelle told the crowd Wednesday night after a loud ovation, caught on audio by DaLaughingBarrel.com. “I wouldn’t go back to Hartford for f—–g gas.

“I don’t want anything bad to happen to the United States,” Chappelle continued in the clip that was flagged by TMZ, “but if North Korea ever drops a nuclear bomb on this country, I swear to God I hope it lands in Hartford, Connecticut, on stage in that f—– arena.”

The former TV star had made headlines across the country after the Hartford show, which he stopped after just a few jokes. Video taken by patrons at the city’s Comcast Theatre that has since gone viral shows Chappelle sitting on a stool and mumbling responses to individual people in the crowd.

“I don’t know what I’m supposed to say for 25 minutes,” he could be heard saying, referring to the amount of time he was contractually obligated to be on stage.

“I like some of you. I hate some of you,” he told the crowd before leaving amid boos. “I forgive some of you, but I don’t forgive all of you. You guys have totally ruined my chances for running for Congress or something.”

The Oddball Comedy & Curiousity Festival, which also features Flight of the Conchords, was considered a major comeback vehicle for Chappelle, who walked away from his lucrative Comedy Central series eight years ago.

“That crowd was evil — an arena full of suburban torturists,” Chappelle told his fans in Chicago six nights later. “Young white alcoholics just booing and talking all kinds of sh—.”

He added that he wanted to react with a “reverse Kramer” — an allusion to the 2006 incident when Caucasian “Seinfeld” actor Michael Richards dropped the N-word in a shouting match with an African American heckler at a comedy club.

With the Associated Press

Originally Published: September 5, 2013 at 12:00 p.m.