DUBAI: US comedian Dave Chappelle performed to a packed audience at Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Arena on Thursday as part of Abu Dhabi Comedy Week, where he also addressed the war in Gaza.
“What is happening in Gaza is a direct result of antisemitism in the West,” he said on stage.
“If you are in America, the best thing you can do is to make American Jews feel safe, feel loved and supported so they can know they don’t have to support a country that is committing genocide just to feel safe,” he added.
Chappelle previously slammed the Israeli bombing of Gaza, as well as the US support for it, at a show in Boston in October.
According to people in attendance, an audience member asked Chappelle to shut up, which sparked a heated response from the comedian.
“You can’t take tens of billions from my country and go kill innocent women and children and tell me to shut the f--- up,” he said, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Some members of the crowd began chanting “free Palestine,” to which Chappelle replied: “You are damn right, free Palestine.”
