Ice-T Reacts to People Trying to 'Cancel' Him for 'SNL' Cameo With Dave Chappelle

By Michael Hein

Ice-T made a cameo appearance on Saturday Night Live this weekend, and he did not seem to care about the controversy it generated. The rapper-turned-actor joined this week's SNL host Dave Chappelle for a parody of House of the Dragon featuring characters from Chappelle's Show. After the show was over, Ice-T acknowledged the condemnations of Chappelle on social media but seemed to be ambivalent toward them.

"Somebody said they're gonna CANCEL me after doing SNL with Dave Chappelle... LOL! These MFs have been trying to Cancel me for over 30 [years]!" Ice-T wrote. His tweet got heated comments from people who support Chappelle and people who condemn him. In either case, most seemed to agree that Ice-T had taken a stance this weekend. On both sides, readers now assumed that Ice-T shared Chappelle's views on the transgender community.

Ice-T made one appearance on Chappelle's Show during its run on Comedy Central in the early-2000s. He played a fictionalized version of himself presenting the award for "Player Hater of the Year" at the "Player-Haters' Ball," which was itself a parody of Ice-T's real-life appearance the "Player's Ball." In the sketch, Ice-T was given the title "Original Player Hater." Beyond that, it's unclear how close he is with Chappelle or even how familiar he may be with Chappelle's recent string of controversies.

Chappelle has had a highly successful comeback in the last few years, starting at least with his SNL hosting debut in 2016, days after that year's election. He followed that up with five stand-up comedy specials on Netflix, each of which built on the previous installments and the social media responses to them. That meant that Chappelle revisited the hot-button topic of transgender activism again and again, alienating more fans each time.

Finally, Chappelle's sixth and final Netflix special last October included many jokes about transgender people, culminating in Chappelle proclaiming that he is a TERF – "trans-exclusionary radical feminist." This was the final straw for some fans, who felt that it meant Chappelle would never change his perspective and would only be pushed further into a conservative view of gender identity.

Since then, many people have avoided Chappelle's performances and TV appearances while questioning his collaborators and producers who continue to give him a platform. They wonder to what extent his fellow performers are willing to co-sign his views. Ice-T has not commented directly on Chappelle's transgender rights rhetoric.

0comments
Start the Conversation

of