Analysis Of The Chappelle Show

In 2004, the United States found itself entering the Iraqi war, which ended in thirty eight thousand American troops wounded or dead. During this time, the American public questioned its leaders for the reason entering this war. Around the same time, Dave Chappelle had his own show on the Comedy Central Network, the Chappelle Show. On this show, Chappelle would express his views on many issues through satire and humorous exaggerations. David Galvez, the writer of Intertextuality and Understanding Chappelle’s Comedy states, “In this seven-minute sketch, Chappelle plays the part of President George W. Bush portrayed as a negatively stereotypical representation of an African-American.” The use of exaggerations and fallacies in skit does portray the possibility of an African American president in a negative light, just as Galvez suggest.
Dave Chappelle, himself, plays the African American George W. Bush and highlights the time period of the start of the Iraqi war. In this skit, Dave, Black Bush holds a press conference where he is asked about the war in Iraq. A reporter asks, “ Mr. President, when will general elections be held in Iraq?” In response, Chappelle replies, “ Gay people are getting married folks!” Chappelle uses the red herring fallacy, where an irrelevant topic is presented in order to divert attention from the real issue. It can clearly be seen that the real issue during this press conference is the Iraq war. Instead of the President answering the question directly given from the reporter, he throws out the controversial topic of gay rights, with the goal of diverting the reporter’s question. Dave Chappelle accomplished his goal and used the fallacy