Don Lemon Has Responded To Dave Chappelle’s Scathing Call-Out In His ‘8:46’ Netflix Special

During a scathing segment in his surprise Netflix special, 8:46, comedian Dave Chappelle ripped into CNN host Don Lemon’s call for celebrities to speak out during the Black Lives Matter protests over the murder of George Floyd. And in a surprising move, Lemon actually agrees with Chappelle’s criticism.

While the special was less comedy and more about Chappelle addressing recent events (the title 8:46 refers to the amount of time that officers had their knee on Floyd’s neck, causing his death), it was still a true to form display of the comedian’s searing social commentary. After seeing Lemon criticize celebrities for not speaking out more, Chappelle unleashed his thoughts.

“Answer me: Do you want to see a celebrity right now?” Chappelle said. “Do we give a f*ck what Ja Rule thinks? Does it matter about celebrity? No, this is the streets talking for themselves, they don’t need me right now. I kept my mouth shut. And I’ll still keep my mouth shut. But don’t think my silence is complicit… Why would anyone care what their favorite comedian thinks after they saw a police officer kneel on a man’s neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds?”

By the time Lemon hopped on to CNN this morning, the clip of Chappelle roasting him was all over the internet, but the CNN host wasn’t mad. In fact, he agreed with Chappelle’s fierce criticism of older establishments that have failed the Black community, and he was honored to be a part of the special. However, Lemon couldn’t help but notice the irony that Chappelle was doing the very thing that Lemon had asked for: speaking out.

“His special is called 8:46, he’s talking about this issue, and I think it’s great that he’s using his platform to talk about this in the way that he can,” Lemon said.

You can follow the link to watch Lemon’s reaction below:

(Via CNN)