The indomitable comedian, Aave Chappelle, was fearless, uncensored, and lethal when he touched down in the capital the other night as part of the Abu Dhabi Comedy Season. It was during his sold-out gig at Etihad Arena that Chappelle became embroiled in a strange situation after an audience member yelled: “DJ Khaled!” What came next was a searing, joke-packed callout that’s now resonating across headlines and social media.
“DJ Khaled, let me tell you something,” Charles started, addressing the audience. “For a Palestinian, this guy is taciturn at the moment. And, as a Palestinian, how could you be that silent right now? And why are you so fat? People are starving. He’s the only fat Palestinian in the world right now.”
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Chappelle’s shot was a biting commentary that resonated with increasing collective exasperation with DJ Khaled’s silence on the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza. While being open about his Palestinian heritage isn’t something that Shalhoub shies away from, and he shouldn’t, the fact of the matter is, the music tycoon has been curiously mum as death, war, and massive destruction rain down upon his native land.
It’s a disappointment that even Khaled’s cousin, Fadie Musallet, spoke about publicly back in February 2024. “There’s no reason, there’s no excuse when you’re a Palestinian,” Musallet said in an interview, referring to Khaled’s inaction. “For me, it’s where my mother still is. Same village, same families, we were. So, there’s no excuse.”
Musallet, who directly works with refugee camps and raises money for Palestinian communities, put it bluntly. And now, Chappelle, who has been steadfastly vocal about the plight of Palestinians, is going even louder.
This is not the first time the comedian has used his platform to address the issue. In 2023, Chappelle spoke from a stage in Abu Dhabi to rail against “genocide” in Gaza. He called on President Biden to be empathetic to the Palestinian people one month before the re-election campaign, during the January 2024 episode of Saturday Night Live.
However, Chappelle acknowledges that the stakes are now higher. “Now that I’m a big, powerful voice in America, I realised I’ve got to be careful,” he told the Abu Dhabi crowd. “I can get in some cross trouble and they’ll extort me and put words in my mouth.”
Then he added one more dagger of sarcasm: “So if that ever does happen, we need a phrase something that I would never say, so if I say it, you will know not to listen to anything else I say after that. You ready? The phrase is “I stand with Israel.”
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