Dave Chappelle quietly dropped a surprise Netflix special titled 8:46–the amount of time a Minneapolis policeman kneeled on George Floyd’s neck– which the streaming platform shared for free on its YouTube comedy channel.
In a powerful, 27-minute set that’s short on traditional jokes and focused more on Chappelle’s searing social commentary, the stand-up icon touches on everything from Floyd’s death to his not accepting a Grammy when Kobe Bryant died to CNN host Don Lemon and Fox News host Laura Ingraham, and even a crack about rapper Ja Rule, when explaining why people don’t want to hear celebrity opinions during a time of protest.
“It’s hard to figure out what to say about George Floyd, so I’m not going to say it yet,” Chappelle says in the beginning of the special, later adding, “I got to tell you, this is like the first concert in North America since all this shit happened, so like it or not, it’s history. It’s going to be in the books.”
The top-secret special was filmed on June 6 in Yellow Springs, Ohio, with social distancing guidelines in place for the crowd, including face masks and temperature checks. Chappelle had not performed on stage in 87 days until the special, though he has since performed similarly intimate sets around the Dayton area.
Watch the whole special for free above.
