Dave Chappelle is facing criticism after a short video circulated online showing him joking about the 2025 assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk during a sold-out stand-up show at Madison Square Garden in New York.
The remarks came during Chappelle’s Karmageddon tour, which played Madison Square Garden on November 6 and 7 as part of the New York Comedy Festival. In the clip, Chappelle says that being a public speaker can be frightening before adding that he has felt better since Kirk was murdered. He then appears to acknowledge that the remark was something he should not have said publicly.
The clip quickly spread across social media, drawing criticism from commentators, public figures and Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk. The video is brief and does not include the full routine, which makes the complete context of Chappelle’s comments difficult to determine.
Madison Square Garden had advertised both Karmageddon performances as device-free events. Guests were required to place phones and other recording equipment in locked Yondr pouches during the shows. That restriction has raised questions about how the footage was captured and why the circulating copy appears to be a recording of another screen rather than a direct stage video.
The Los Angeles Times reported that Chappelle made the remarks during the Saturday, November 7 performance. Other coverage has described the circulating footage more cautiously because the clip does not independently establish which of the two New York shows was recorded.
Writer Rob Henderson, a fellow at the conservative Manhattan Institute, said he attended the Saturday performance and heard Chappelle make the remark. Henderson wrote online that Chappelle also described his reaction as involuntary. The short clip and posts discussing it were viewed millions of times as the controversy grew over the weekend.
Elon Musk was among the public figures who criticized Chappelle after the clip spread. Other commentators, including Piers Morgan, also objected to the joke and pointed to the comedian’s own experience with violence after he was tackled onstage during a 2022 performance at the Hollywood Bowl.
Erika Kirk issued a broader statement Sunday condemning jokes about her husband’s assassination. She did not name Chappelle directly in the statement, but it was posted as discussion of his remarks and a separate podcast controversy were spreading online.
“To see leftist podcasters, comedians, and commentators laugh about political assassination as though it’s entertainment and the destruction of a human life is a punchline, is beyond disgusting,” she wrote.
She said her husband’s killing was an act of political violence that she and their two children would continue to live with. She also argued that political disagreements should not erase respect for human life.
Charlie Kirk, 31, the founder of Turning Point USA, was shot and killed on September 10, 2025, while speaking at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. Authorities charged Tyler James Robinson with aggravated murder and other offenses in connection with the killing.
Robinson has pleaded not guilty. His case has not yet gone to trial, and a Utah judge had not set a trial date as of late October. Reuters reported that prosecutors proposed January 31, 2028, as a starting date, while Robinson’s lawyers asked for a trial in late 2029. Another hearing was scheduled for November 9, 2026.
The criminal filing from the Utah County Attorney’s Office accuses Robinson of intentionally or knowingly causing Kirk’s death. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty, but the allegations remain unproven unless Robinson is convicted in court.
The Chappelle controversy arrived only days after another dispute involving jokes about Kirk’s death. Jennifer Welch and Angie Sullivan, hosts of the podcast I’ve Had It, apologized after laughing while reading a social media post that joked about digging up Kirk and killing him again.
“On Thursday’s show, we laughed at a joke about Charlie Kirk. It was an insensitive joke, and we should not have laughed,” the hosts said in their apology. They added that there was “nothing funny about gun violence” and said they had made a donation to Everytown for Gun Safety.
Several companies publicly distanced themselves from the podcast after the clip spread. Cash App said it was no longer a sponsor, while Chewy said it did not sponsor or support the show and condemned violence in all forms. Other advertisers also ended or paused relationships with the program, according to entertainment and business reports.
Chappelle has built much of his career around provocative material and has repeatedly drawn debate over jokes about politics, race, gender and public figures. That history has made the latest clip part of a wider argument about the boundaries of stand-up comedy and whether jokes involving real acts of political violence should be treated differently from other controversial material.
As of Sunday evening, Chappelle had not issued a public statement addressing the backlash. Because the widely shared clip captures only a short portion of his set, the rest of the routine surrounding the remark remains unavailable to most of the public.