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In an interview with Variety, Bowen Yang addressed the Dave Chappelle controversy that took place in a Saturday Night Live show aired in January 2024. In the interview published on June 5, 2024, Bowen spoke at length about what exactly happened during the final goodnight segment, as viewers drew many speculations about Yang standing on Chapelle’s opposite end with his arms folded.
As the jokes about Bowen Yang distancing himself from Dave Chapelle made their way to the internet, Bowen cleared the air during the Variety interview and stated:
“I stand where I always stand on goodnights. It was not a physical distance that anyone was creating. It had to do with so many things that were completely internal.”
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As the show aired in January 2024, many fans of the show were surprised to see the distance between Dave and Bowen Yang. As such, they started discussing if the awkwardness was due to Dave’s infamous Netflix special, The Closer, where he joked about the transgender community. Many netizens alleged that Bowen, who is of the LGBTQ+ community, could be uncomfortable due to this reason.
“I was just confused, that was it”- Bowen Yang clears the air after the alleged awkward Saturday Night Live moment with Dave Chapelle in January 2024
As Dave Chapelle joined the stage and stood next to Jimmy Fallon, social media users pointed out that of all the cast members, Bowen looked extremely awkward and uncomfortable, especially because Dave made a surprise entry as he was not there in any of the sketches.
In the interview, Bowen narrated the incident during the show in which Dave Chapelle did not feature in any of the sketches but was on the stage for the final goodbyes. Yang exclaimed how he was “just confused,” as he said:
“It was about other people’s responses in the show. I was just confused, that was it.”
Furthermore, Bowen Yang was also joined in the interview with Kenan Thompson, who also stated that the whole scenario was “jarring,” as all the cast members were surprised and confused to see Chapelle on the stage.
The clarification by Bowen Yang and Kenan Thompson can finally put an end to the speculation that Bowen was awkward on the stage due to Dave’s Netflix special, The Choice, where he roasted the transgender community, and made jokes about the LGBTQ+ community. At the time, Dave met with a lot of criticism from the masses and the people of the LGBTQ+ community.
During the Variety interview, Bowen Yang also spoke about Shane Gillis, who used racial and h*mophobic slurs in 2019. The same also got him fired from Saturday Night Live. Yang opened up about the fiasco and stated:
“Anytime our names are in the same sentence, at least in a journalistic way, it always feels deleterious. It feels like one person is trying to undo the other.”
The controversial Saturday Night Live episode featured Yang, with Justin Timberlake, along with Shark Tank’s Mark Cuban and Barbara Corcoran. At the same time, the episode was hosted by Dakota Johnson.
