Never a stranger to controversy, Dave Chappelle has waded into another tempest by reportedly saying he “feels better” after Charlie Kirk’s assassination during a standup comedy show at Madison Square Garden this weekend.
A supposed clip of the segment during his MSG appearance as part of New York Comedy Festival circulated social media this weekend and shows the comedian stating, “I feel fucked up saying this. It’s scary being a public speaker . . . Ever since that guy Charlie Kirk got murdered, and I shouldn’t say this publicly, but, I feel better.”
Chappelle’s shows are phone free, so the existence of the clip, which is low quality and appears to be a recording of a screen, not the stage, stands out.
After the statement, hesitant laughter comes from the crowd before Chappelle appears to say, “I know I shouldn’t say that. But, it’s just a feeling.”
Kirk was assassinated in 2025 while at an event at a Utah university.
Rob Henderson, a writer and senior fellow at the conservative Manhattan Institute, wrote on social media that Chappelle also said “I’m so happy Charlie Kirk was killed. I can’t help it, it’s involuntary.” Henderson said he saw Chappelle make the statement live.
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The video and Henderson’s post were viewed nearly 7 million times, and one person who caught the controversy was Elon Musk, who posted on X “Shame, shame, shame on Chappelle” in response to another post calling out the comedian despite the tech billionaire’s past support of total free speech.
This isn’t the first time Chappelle has done a bit on Kirk. In the comedian’s 2025 Netflix special, The Unstoppable, he joked that he was shook after the killing of Kirk, who had expressed anti-transgender views. Chappelle said he thought his transgender jokes meant he would be killed too. Chappelle also railed against the comparison of Kirk’s death to the shooting of Martin Luther King Jr.
“That’s a reach,” Chappelle said of the comparison in the special. “They both got murdered in a terrible fashion. They both got shot in the neck, but that’s about where those similarities ended.”
“Charlie Kirk’s an internet personality — by design. Fundamentally, he can’t function like Dr. King. Internet [personalities] are negative because they have to be. No one will engage them unless they say shit that makes them upset. Can you imagine if Dr. King was behaving like Charlie Kirk? ‘Smash that like button and subscribe! Follow me for more content like that! I believe all Black people should be free, change my mind!’”
Shame, shame, shame on Chappelle https://t.co/UBsY1txWWD
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 8, 2026
“I’m so happy Charlie Kirk was killed. I can’t help it, it’s involuntary.” -Dave Chappelle tonight at Madison Square Garden
— Rob Henderson (@robkhenderson) November 8, 2026