Was Dave Chappelle Taken Down by Oprah and Co?

[NOTE: This was posted by another user under the title, "The Shocking Story Of Chapelle's Censorship" and as I was reading the link, that user's post got trashcanned. In fact, the post is very interesting and I figured I'd re-post it. If the media can use force to alter what Americans see on TV, well, that's conspiracy.]

www.chappelletheory.com...

Here's the actual website. The individual claims to be a PR rep, and the writing seems consistent with that. He says that black American power brokers took Dave Chappelle down. This is the truth about what happened, I believe. Chappelle was way too funny and way to offensive to the powerful.

This is the modern day example of how censorship is quietly used. It comes in the form of pressure from your peers who have supported you and loaned you money while you were struggling.

February 5, 2003
Robert L. Johnson, alerted by the rumblings coming from the Cosby, Farrakhan, and Sharpton camps, decided to tune into this show to see what Chappelle had been doing that was getting so many black leaders rankled. After watching the show, Johnson reportedly thought to himself, "Bill, Al and Louis may be right — if this really blows up, it sets us up to be minstrels again." Just as Cosby and Farrakhan did, Johnson decided to get involved as well.

April 9, 2003
Louis Farrakhan, most likely under the direction of Cosby, sought out the opportunity to speak with Chappelle. Farrakhan, who had advised Chappelle on his conversion to Islam in 1998, visited Chappelle on location days after the episode aired. His concerns fall on deaf ears, as Chappelle was resistant to pressure to tone down the show's content.

April 20, 2003
With Chapelle's Show on hiatus before production for season two commences, Chappelle took some down time at his Ohio area farm. It was here that he received a strange package.

As told by Dave himself, at around noon, in the middle of an early season Cincinnati Reds game, there was a knock at his door. Chappelle was a bit concerned, as no one except his close family and friends were aware of where he was.

When he opened the door, all he found was a crudely wrapped package, with the inscription "For Chappelle" on it.

Inside the package was a voodoo-doll style replica of Chappelle dressed as Clayton Bigsby — the African American Klansman from his first show. The doll was riddled with safety pins, and had a noose tied sharply around his neck. Accompanying the doll was a message in a childlike scrawl that read, "what you're doing is hurting the African American community — it needs to stop."

I do believe this is how it went. Cosby sees himself as the American realization of black properness, so when you combine him with Oprah and Robert L Johnson [owns BET and megabucks], well, it doesn't matter how funny your show is. You're going down.

I wanted to post more here but I'll see if anyone wants to read the site and offer their opinion. It's important to look at issues like this which sometimes seem innocent. Here we have the funniest black actor in years, who doesn't adbide by the black power brokers like Oprah, Cosby Robert Johnson, Farrakhan, etc --and gets taken down for it. This says a lot and although it's not aliens or bohemian grove, it's still pretty eerie.

And sad too, because Chappelle's Show was hilarious. It really hit a chord among young people of all colors who can easily see that people like Cosby, Winfrey, Goldberg are lying to them.


[edit on 17-12-2005 by smallpeeps]

I don't watch much TV, but I can tell you that somewhere in there is some flawed information. Not only is this Dave Chappelle very popular, but his material is selling out faster than stores can keep it on the shelves. He has not gone away as this info seems to imply.

How do I know for sure? Because I spent the last two weeks hunting down one of his DVDs for my nephew for Christmas!!! I probably checked 15 stores, all of whom reported being SOLD OUT of Chappelle material, before I finally found the last copy left in an out-of-the-way video store.

Hardly an entertainer who has disappeared off the radar...

Yes, but his show is off the air...

I have a question, what are Goldberg and the others saying to oung blacks??

-- Boat

I am white, an american, and a huge fan of chapelle's show. I have been intrigued by the recent developments of dave's show. I will take the time to research the info in these threads. However, let me say, as an avid fan of american comedy over the last 20 years, Chapelle's show made me laugh harder that anything i have seen during this time, including eddie murphy. Eddie used the obvious, dave dug deeper. Charlie Murphy's True Hollywood Stories and the Mad Real World and Tyrone Biggums are enough to secure Dave Chapelle's legacy in comedy forever

The show went off the air because of contactual disagreements between Dave Chappelle and Comedy Central. His show is coming back on within the next couple months.

Case closed!

I have a question, what are Goldberg and the others saying to oung blacks??

They're telling them to be complacent and to accept the status quo. Gifted entertainers like Chappelle break down that facade. They force people to look at how ugly some of our ideas are. Cosby, Oprah and Whoopie are not really doing as much for their people as they claim to be, IMO. They are obviously more concerned with their wealth.

So I guess what I mean is that they lie by ommission. Cos and Oprah do not really want to improve the lives of blacks because they are tools of the establishment and therefore must espouse the consumeristic lifestyle which most blacks can't participate in. That's the lie.

The show went off the air because of contactual disagreements between Dave Chappelle and Comedy Central. His show is coming back on within the next couple months.

What kind of contract dispute happens when a comedian is offered full creative control and 50 million dollars? I'd sure like that sort of dispute.

I am looking forward to the return of the show, but I expect it will not be as edgy as it was.

This website could be all fiction, but Chappelle did go nuts and fly to Africa to get away, so something happened. I do not think this story to be beyond the realm of belief.


[edit on 18-12-2005 by smallpeeps]

perched on top of my stomach, wielding a Colt 45 handgun with an enormous silencer. The other two men were holding me down. It seemed like my wife had been drugged, as she laid motionless but breathing next to me.

Oprah Winfrey leaned forward and whispered in my ear "you better watch your step — we're representing interests more powerful than you can imagine. You do remember that Farrakhan killed Malcom, and that Cosby, Johnson and I have more money than God

I find this to be not possible. Come, Oprah Winfrey maybe could have thrown some money around to try to change Dave's show, but do we really think she broke into his house late at night and put a gun to his head; thats insane.

That website is BOGUS.

-- Boat

Harassment and persecution that threatens your life and that of your loved ones, can send you nuts, causeing nightmares that can seem very real. None of us can 'know' what did or didn't happen, to what degree.

It is interesting though, that such a popular show should have it's DVD's "sold out" all over town, rather than "churned out" when they're so quick, easy and cheap to produce. Also a contactual dispute, after, a 50 million dollar contract is signed, seems odd. Wouldn't the dispute happen before they signed away so much money?

All I know is, we've been missing Dave Chapelle's show 'Down Under'. Despite it's popularity, we're not getting the endless reruns we do of so many trash American shows.

Originally posted by cmdrkeenkid
The show went off the air because of contactual disagreements between Dave Chappelle and Comedy Central. His show is coming back on within the next couple months.

Case closed!

I have to agree. There are some rumors Dave had a break down or a drug problem about the same time though.

But its indeed comming back they had clips of the new season on the show Big in 05. Looked pretty funny I cant wait

Perhaps opera didnt break inot his house and threaten him but I could absolutley see Farakhan or sharpton doing things like that to get their way. It does make sense what we need to do is get the truth out of charlie murphy or eddie murphy they would be able to give the st8 up, unless they are under pressue to stay quiet about it.

But on a different note this site was interesting because it gave us insite perhaps to how other secret societies or powerhungry groups originate and evolve into more efficient and ruthless organizations. A group of rich and somewhat powerful/influential individuals come togehter by chance in the pursuit of a common goal whether or not their reasons for that goal are the same is pointless its just achieving the goal that matters.

I have reason to believe they want him out, why would these affluent African American celebrities want him in business with the type of comedy he performs, it is degrading to them. He is potentially hurting their community, according to them. So yeah I'd believe it.

I don't think we're gonna see his 3rd season any time soon, if ever.

i must contribute the blatently obvious.

oprah is powerful, not just regular powerful, but crazy powerful. she's sneaky, because that's the only way any black woman could get as powerful as she is.

finally, she's adored by millions, so she can more or less get away with whatever she wants.

Again, the I don't think she somehow beaned a special show of Oprah just to Dave's house when he just happened to be watching, to tell him she was out to get him.

It is clear that who ever made that website was just making thing up, so we should be careful about believing ANYTHING on the site.

I mean if they really wanted to stop him why not just pay him 51 million.

-- Boat

Originally posted by Boatphone

I mean if they really wanted to stop him why not just pay him 51 million.

-- Boat

While I did have trouble believing that Oprah directed a message just to him through her show, I don't doubt it is possible (what about the audience and Tom sitting right beside her ? good question right ? but it could have been a previously recorde message that was in fact cut into the broadcast to his house only while the progtramme ran as per normal). And from what this site does suggest they were harrassing him, why not go all out to freak him out ?

And I don't think he could be "bought" when he has the potential to earn alot more than that if he stays in business. Why should he give in to them if they had indeed bribed him from the get go ?

No, I knew something was up when the rumours as to why he was MIA started flying. It just didn't add up, and now, after reading that, well they kinda do ...

Something is definitely up and it aint his health nor no contract dispute.


[edit on 18-12-2005 by ImJaded]

Why not just call him up?

And does he even watch Oprah, and if so does he watch it everyday without fail; it just seems so insane, and it is.

Plus, Oprah putting a gun to his head? These are real people not cartoons!



-- Boat

Again, the I don't think she somehow beaned a special show of Oprah just to Dave's house when he just happened to be watching, to tell him she was out to get him.

What is stated, is that Oprah, during her interview with Tom Cruise, turns to the camera and in a non-sequitor, says "And shame on you, Dave Chappelle, for your horrible show which makes black people look so bad." or some such words. They would not be seen as anything really odd by Oprah's army. Dave Chappelle, however, would be freaked. Also, they were only played in the local affiliate and if that was Hollywood or LA, nobody would notice Oprah giving some kind of shout-out to Dave Chappelle or chastising him thusly.

Do you realize how powerful Oprah is?

It is clear that who ever made that website was just making thing up, so we should be careful about believing ANYTHING on the site.

It is clear? To whom? Look, I'm not defending this theory, but when a guy like DC gets his chance at the big time, then becomes the next Richard Pryor and Eddie Murphy combined, busting out a 50 million dollar contract and the funniest show on tv --then bails to Africa, insanely afraid of something, it's reasonable to question why.

I mean if they really wanted to stop him why not just pay him 51 million.

-- Boat

Dave Chappelle was doing free comedy on the Santa Monica Promenade (in California) when he was a teenager. This dude is serious real and seriously funny. I will go so far as to call him an "Ali" type of character who knows that nobody is doing what he's doing. He knows he's bobbing and weaving. His DVDs are hotter than lava.

He wouldn't accept 51 million to shut up or tone it down. No way. His whole market is based on truthtelling comedy and he is very young and dangerous, IMO. Besides, he'd be smart enough to turn the tables on Oprah. 51 million ain't enough to buy him.



[EDIT]

I want to again mention that this is not a thread originated by me. Like I said, it was originally a thread by another member that had gotten deleted because it was not up to ATS standards. That member had linked to a blog which mentioned this website, but the blog was a poorly written mess, containing a link to the actual site. I followed that link to the actual site and then formatted a post which was a little more acceptable and which linked to the actual site.

Wish I could remember that user's name because any points I get for this thread should actually go to them. Maybe the mods can look in the trashcan and give that user a points-bump or something. Unlike most of my threads, this one might actually get discussed and I'd hate to take credit for finding this site.

[edit on 18-12-2005 by smallpeeps]

I'm sure she is powerful enough and smart enough to realize that calling Dave on the telephone and yelling at him would be much easier and more effective than rigging some kind of special message in a show; that he may or may not even be watching.



-- Boat

Originally posted by smallpeeps
I want to again mention that this is not a thread originated by me. Like I said, it was originally a thread by another member that had gotten deleted because it was not up to ATS standards. That member had linked to a blog which mentioned this website, but the blog was a poorly written mess, containing a link to the actual site. I followed that link to the actual site and then formatted a post which was a little more acceptable and which linked to the actual site.

Wish I could remember that user's name because any points I get for this thread should actually go to them. Maybe the mods can look in the trashcan and give that user a points-bump or something. Unlike most of my threads, this one might actually get discussed and I'd hate to take credit for finding this site.

I wonder why it was trashed, this is actually very fascinating, I would like to see if it can be debunked because I can't find anything thus far that actually can.

Boatphone, your point is an excellent one, unrealistic yet not impossible as I said before.
But that aside, does the rest really sound so far-fetched to anybody ?

I had stumbled upon that site last night. I had finished reading it this morning. I did a quick look around and didn't notice this thread until after I started a new one.

Anyway, I can see the amount of power the 'Dark Crusaders' can weild. It would not surprise me in the least to see most of this being true. If DC wanted to post the pictures that were sent to him as proof, I think it would go along way. I wonder if he would jeopordize his career to make this a public thing. Even if a small part is true, can you imagine the power these people must have at their disposal IF they wanted to ruin somebody?

I wonder whom else has been at the recieving end of their threats.

snoop what do you think?