Teenagers Unimpressed With Dave Chappelle at High School Homecoming

[Duncan Grant]

Teenagers Unimpressed With Dave Chappelle at High School Homecoming

It’s hard to know what Dave Chappelle expected when he made a surprise visit to his alma mater, the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, D.C. That he had a documentary film crew with him, as reported by Politico, suggests he felt the assembled 580 students would greet him with unbridled enthusiasm. This was not the case.

The Ellington visit, which happened on Tuesday, began with a mix of “cheers and some boos,” according to Politico. It also included a Q&A session that got testy. One student called Chappelle “a bigot” and added, “I’m 16, and I think you’re childish, you handled it like a child.”

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Chappelle reportedly responded to the 16-year-old by saying, “my friend, with all due respect, I don’t believe you could make one of the decisions I have to make on a given day.” To a follow-up question described as “antagonistic,” the comic said, “I’m better than every instrumentalist, artist, no matter what art you do in this school, right now, I’m better than all of you. I’m sure that will change. I’m sure you’ll be household names soon.”

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Chappelle’s spokesperson Carla Sims told Politico that he anticipated the students would greet him with forgiveness, but they failed to meet his expectations. She also said that Chappelle wanted to “give them some space to grow” and that “they are going to say things that are immature.”