Dave Chappelle Explains the Somber Circumstances That Led Him to Host ‘SNL’

Stephen Proctor

Dave Chappelle’s hilarious turn as host of Saturday Night Live on Nov. 12 was actually born out of very somber circumstances. On CBS This Morning, Chappelle explained to Gayle King the painful events that led to his decision to host, and it all came down to A Tribe Called Quest. More specifically, the death of Tribe member Phife Dawg on March 22.

Phife Dawg.
A founding member of A Tribe Called Quest, Phife Dawg, in 2015. (Brian Ach/Invision/AP)

The night of Phife Dawg’s funeral, Q Tip, also a member of A Tribe Called Quest, played for Chappelle and others Tribe’s new album, their first in 16 years. It was that night, and the death of Prince less than a month later, that really affected Chappelle’s decision.

“The night we were all together, Prince was doing his last concert in Atlanta. A lot of us had tickets to Prince’s show, but because of the Phife thing, it was like, we’ll just go see him next time. Then there wasn’t next time. So the album had the idea that we’re all getting to the age where we lose one another sometimes,” Chappelle said.

Tribe’s new album, We Got It From Here, Thank You For Your Service, was released on Friday, Nov. 11, and the group was scheduled to perform on SNL before Chappelle decided to host. Q Tip convinced Chappelle to do the show. Chappelle said, “He was very emphatic, and he goes, ‘Dave, this is the last Tribe album ever.’ That was the tipping point. If you really want to honor someone’s legacy…”

Check out Dave Chappelle’s message for Donald Trump:

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