Dave Chappelle Speaks

Time Magazine managed to track down Dave Chappelle. And they didn't find him in a mental institution or on crack. They found him in South Africa and spoke to him for 90 minutes...

The first thing Chappelle wants is to dispel rumors—that he's got a drug problem, that he's checked into a mental institution in Durban—that have been flying around the U.S. for the past week. He says he is staying with a friend, Salim Domar, and not in a mental institution, as has been widely reported in America. Chappelle says he is in South Africa to find "a quiet place" for a while. "Let me tell you the things I can do here which I can't at home: think, eat, sleep, laugh. I'm an introspective dude. I enjoy my own thoughts sometimes. And I've been doing a lot of thinking here."

The picture he paints—and it seems a fairly honest and frank assessment— is of someone struggling to come to terms with a new position and power who's still figuring out how to come to grips with how people around him are reacting to the $50 million deal he signed last year with Comedy Central. Without naming specific characters, he seems to blame both some of his inner circle (not his family) and himself for the stresses created by last year's deal.

Right now Chappelle is taking a break and spending some time with a close spiritual Muslim friend with whom he is “filling up his spirit”.

Some say Dave is just not equipped to handle the pressure but I think it's a good thing to take some time and get your head together. The man suddenly makes a lot of money. That changes everything. People start telling you what they think you want to hear.

As he said in the Time article:"If you don't have the right people around you, and you're moving at a million miles an hour, you can lose yourself. Everyone around me says, 'You're a genius, you're great, that's your voice,' but I'm not sure that they're right."

But they didn't ask the one question I had. Will he be suing Entertainment Weekly?

Comments

[glasshalffull]

Nice.