Dave Chappelle’s Publicist Denies The Comedian Helped Kill Affordable Housing Plan
There’s a viral video going around that shows famed stand-up comedian and Ohio resident, Dave Chappelle, fervently opposing, according to Dayton Daily News, an affordable housing plan in his hometown of Yellow Springs.
“I cannot believe you would make me audition for you,” you can hear Chappelle express in the video. “You look like clowns. I am not bluffing. I will take it all off the table.”
As for what was on the table: the comedian’s company, Iron Table Holdings LLC, was reportedly planning to launch $65m dollars of investments in commercial businesses. “I’ve invested millions of dollars in this town,” he said. “If you push this thing through, what I’m investing in is no longer applicable. I would say that Oberer can buy all of this property from me if they want to be your benefactor because I will no longer want to,” he said in the Monday evening (Feb. 7) council meeting.
The comedian, who has already been under fire multiple times for his unapologetic comedy stand-ups, received a lot of backlash on the internet, with users calling him out for classism.
“Why do people assume Dave Chappelle ever lived in a “ghetto,” the man’s parents were comfortably upper middle class,” wrote one user. “Black people really are happy Dave Chappelle is a Gentrifier. Please free my people from this rot,” wrote another.
However, according to Chappelle’s publicist in a statement to CNN, people have gotten the narrative all wrong.
“Dave Chappelle didn’t kill affordable housing. Concerned residents and a responding Village Council ‘killed’ a half-baked plan which never actually offered affordable housing,” she began. “Without question, Dave Chappelle cares about Yellow Springs. He’s sewn into the fabric of the Village. The passion with which he delivered his comments during the Village Council meeting was just as evident as when he fought to create living-wage jobs with his famed ‘Summer Camp’ for residents during the height of the COVID pandemic. Neither Dave nor his neighbors are against affordable housing, however, they are against the poorly vetted, cookie-cutter, sprawl-style development deal which has little regard for the community, culture and infrastructure of the Village.”
According to the Dayton Daily News report, the resolution was successfully struck down, effectively taking away the 64 single-family homes, 52 duplexes, 24 townhomes and the additional 1.75 acres that would have been donated to the community for affordable housing to be built later. Now, only 143 single-family homes are to be constructed with a starting price point around $300,000.
