Was Dave Chappelle Almost Whacked by Oprah?

Many people are still perplexed as to why Dave Chappelle pulled the plug on his hit Comedy Central show at the peak of its popularity, especially with a road paved with gold lined up before him. Well, there is a website called The Chappelle Theory that offers up an amazing possibility. The story contained on this site slowly seduces your sense of intrigue and then pounds you with satire so outrageous and mesmerizing, it is unlikely you will be able pull yourself away.

The website guides visitors through a conspiracy theory about the demise of Comedy Centrals Chappelle's Show. The site chronicles the actions of an organization called the "Dark Crusaders", consisting of Bill Cosby, Al Sharpton, Louis Farrakhan, Jesse Jackson, Whoopi Goldberg, Robert L. Johnson---and freakin' Oprah! The theory alleges that the "Dark Crusaders" conspired to destroy Chappelle's Show due to its comic portrayal of negative black stereotypes. Apparently, Bill Cosby got the ball rolling after viewing the first two episodes of the show in 2003. Having been disgusted by the "shows outrageous tone", Cosby contracts Louis Farrakhan to speak with Chappelle, who according to the theory befriended Farrakhan while seeking spiritual guidance during his conversion to Islam in 1998. The theory story runs along a timeline, describing chronologically how all the aforementioned powerful black individuals conspired to destroy Chappelle, even going as far as to make threatening phone calls, and sending a scary voodoo doll to Chappelle's home - a voodoo doll!?!? You gotta love that.

Needless to say, once the story turns to voodoo dolls, doubt has already started to arise in the minds of visitors to the site who may still believe the whole theory to be true. Then, if there was still a shred of belief left, kiss it goodbye when the story describes Chappelle watching Oprah at his home and witnessing her turning toward the camera in the middle of interviewing Tom Cruise and saying, "Dave Chappelle, you should be ashamed of yourself for airing that Niggers sketch on your show this week, I'm going to make sure you never work in Hollywood again." How did Oprah send her message to Chappelle's TV and his TV only you ask? Well, BET founder and fellow Dark Crusader Robert L. Johnson used his connections to ensure Oprah's message would be funneled only to Chappelle's TV of course -- apparently Oprah's studio audience was in on the conspiracy as well.

The rest of the story is pure brilliance, reaching fabulous new heights of outlandishness with Chappelle's testimony to a friend that he woke up one night to find himself with a gun to his head and pinned down on his bed by Oprah's goons, while Oprah herself leans forward to whisper threats in Chappelle's ear. C'mon, you know Oprah has goons.

I'll leave the rest of the story to The Chappelle Theory site.

But, the interesting thing about this story is that there is more than a shred of truth to it, which is of course what makes it great satire. Before his retreat to Africa, Chappelle's Show had begun to take on a life of its own and Chappelle himself was very quickly thrown into a situation in which pressure was being applied from a few different directions, especially after signing an enormous 50 million dollar contract for two more seasons. In fact, the story since his return from Africa has largely revolved around Chappelle's near collapse under the pressure of his superstar status, with rumors of psyciatric problems and drug addiction still floating around despite Chappelle's denials. But, the most pressure may have been coming from Chappelle's conscience, as he began to wonder if his brand of humor was serving to perpetuate negative stereotypes.

In his appearance on Oprah following his return from hiatus in South Africa, Chappelle set the record straight citing that his intent was to get away and reflect on his career and mourn the death of his father. He also said, "I was doing material that was funny, but was socially irresponsible". He went on to describe a sobering moment while taping his famous minstrel sketch, when Chappelle caught a laugh from one of the staff that wasn't a "laugh with me", but rather a "laugh at me". So while the socially conscious Chappelle may have been attempting to tackle the absurdity of racial stereotypes with his humor, he felt that he was instead reinforcing them. It wasn't enough of a counterbalance in Chappelle's mind to feature positive rappers such as The Roots, Mos Def and Talib Kweli on the show, rather than the more thuggish or blinged out. With time it became apparent to Chappelle that people weren't interpreting the shows comedy in a positive way, and that was something he wasn't proud of.

Some may believe that Chappelle let his fans down, but one thing is for sure - Dave Chappelle is one of the few celebrities willing to take a stand on principle to the detriment of his fame and wallet size, and although fans may miss the show, Chappelle should be commended.