David Bianculli, the New York Daily News TV critic who served as the substitute "Fresh Air" host today, gave this introduction today to the re-broadcast of an old interview with Dave Chapelle:
The third season of his Comedy Central series, called "Chapelle Show," was scheduled to start last month. But Chapelle pulled a vanishing act, retreating to South Africa and forcing the network to substitute other programming. There were rumors of drug abuse, mental instability, even a conversion to Islam. But Chapelle denied all of that in Time Magazine, and resurfaced last week at two comedy clubs in Los Angeles, dropping in unannounced to perform for delighted crowds.
First, the implicit suggestion that converting to Islam is worse than drug abuse and mental instability is, shall we say, highly questionable. But more importantly, Chappelle didn't deny converting to Islam in Time Magazine -- here's what Christopher John Farley wrote:
This is Chappelle's second trip to South Africa. He first came to Durban, and visited Salim, in 2000. Chappelle won't tell me exactly how he met Salim but describes him as a family friend. A soft-spoken Muslim, Salim seems also to be something of a sounding board to Chappelle, who converted to Islam several years ago.
How hard is it to get this kind of stuff right?
I read "even a conversion to Islam" in a different way - that drugs and mental instability would be expected in a celebrity, but a conversion to Islam would not. It was still a screwup, though. Hell, even I knew he was Muslim.
Posted by: Rick | June 10, 2005 at 09:18 PM