Elon Musk still has some followers in Silicon Valley, but they didn’t up for Dave Chappelle’s gig at the San Francisco Chase Center Monday night. In a widely shared viral video, Chappelle brought out the controversial Twitter CEO, who was booed by the audience.
Musk was invited onstage. The billionaire obliged, sporting a T-shirt that read “I Love Twitter.” The arena was packed with loud booing, as well as some cheering. “Ladies and gentlemen, make some noise for the richest man in the world,” Chappelle said as he presented Musk.
Musk responded to the boos by paraphrasing a Rick James Chappelle Show sketch and saying, “I’m rich, bitch.”
As the boos continued to ring out, the comedian said: “All you people booing, and I’m just pointing out the obvious — are in terrible seats.”
Musk made an awkward debut on Chappelle’s show. At the end of the performance, Chappelle discussed the importance of getting along with and communicating with those with opposing views and perspectives.
Considering his guest’s enthusiastically unenthusiastic reply, Chappelle speculated that some of the individuals Musk had fired and laid off from Twitter were present, an allusion to the significant turmoil at the social media business since Musk took over in late October.
“Sounds like some of those people you fired,” Chappelle joked.
The next morning, Musk tweeted, “The woke mind virus is either defeated or nothing else matters,” further associating himself with modern right-wing thinking.
Musk responded to what happened at the Chase Center in a December 12 tweet, writing, “Technically, it was 90% cheers & 10% boos (except during quiet periods), but, still, that’s a lot of boos, which is a first for me in real life (frequent on Twitter). It’s almost as if I’ve offended SF’s unhinged leftists.”
Chappelle urged the crowd not to boo Musk, saying, “I wish everybody in this auditorium the joy of feeling free, and may your pursuit of happiness set you free.”
