Dave Chapelle says SNL writers were in tears after Trump's 2016 win
Comedian Dave Chappelle said in a new interview posted Wednesday that President Donald Trump's election win in 2016 emotionally broke the writers for NBC's "Saturday Night Live."
Chappelle sat down with fellow comedian Mo Amer as part of Variety's "Actors on Actors" program, where they discussed Chappelle hosting the long-running series the weekend after Trump's shocking first victory.
"Man, when they called Donald Trump the winner, that s--- shut the writers' room down. You should have seen them in there," Chappelle said. "Boy, they was crying … They couldn't believe that this was happening."
"I knew it the whole time," Amer remarked of Trump's win.
"Yeah, because you live in Texas and I live in Ohio, but at 30 Rock, it looked like Hillary Clinton was going to win. I don't know what looks different from those windows," Chappelle said. "But yeah, man, it surprised me."
During the interview, Amer asked Chappelle how he felt about his 2016 SNL monologue nearly nine years later. Chappelle revealed he hadn't watched it recently but remembered it "fondly." Amer pointed out that during the monologue, he spoke about giving Trump a chance.
"Oh, I remember that part. But you know what? I look at it like a photograph. That's what it felt like in that moment. Now, if it ages well or not, I don't get mad if I look at a picture because it's not today. That's what it was at that time. You might look at an old set and cringe, but you could just cringe because of how you were at that time," Chappelle said.
Chappelle's post-election SNL appearances have become a tradition of sorts; he hosted in 2020 only hours after the presidential race was called for former President Joe Biden. He most recently hosted the long-running show in January, the Saturday before Trump's second inauguration.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Elle
18 minutes ago
- Elle
Aimee Lou Wood And Walton Goggins Address Their Rumored Feud: ‘We Care About Each Other Very Deeply'
'There is no feud,' Walton Goggins says of his relationship with Aimee Lou Wood, his co-star in The White Lotus season 3, courtesy of a new interview with Variety. FIND OUT MORE ON ELLE COLLECTIVE That revelation might come as a surprise to series fans, some of whom have questioned the status of Goggins and Wood's friendship in the wake of the third season's debut earlier this spring. Feud rumors first circulated on the heels of comments by co-star Jason Isaacs, who repeatedly referred to 'social tensions' on the HBO drama's Thailand set. Those rumors were further inflamed by Goggins's physical separation from the rest of the ensemble cast, including Wood, post-wrap. As he explained to Variety, that distance wasn't personal: He's been preoccupied with production on Prime Video's Fallout season 2, and on the evening of The White Lotus season 3's finale, he was in New York for an appearance on a late-night show, far from his fellow cast members. In the latest chapter of showrunner Mike White's hit drama, Goggins and Wood play Rick and Chelsea, an unlikely pair of star-crossed lovers who meet a heart-breaking fate in the finale episode. During the Variety interview, in which Wood and Goggins were interviewed jointly, Goggins turned to Wood to express his sorrow at having missed the cast's finale watch party. 'I wish I would have been able to watch this with you,' he shared. 'It was so cathartic and so painful, and I regret that. I really do.' But as the two explained in the cathartic tell-all, they have nothing but love to share with each other, and their rumored 'feud' largely amounts to public misconception. 'I adore, I love this woman madly, and she is so important to me,' Goggins said of Wood. 'This is Goldie Hawn. This is Meg Ryan. She can do anything, and she will. You watch what the next 20 years of her experience will be. I'll be on an island, I think Greece. But she's special. There is no feud. She is love and I know that I am that to her. We care about each other very deeply.' In the days leading up to Goggins's recent Saturday Night Live hosting gig, the comedy show revealed a skit in which Sarah Sherman played a parody version of Wood's White Lotus character, Chelsea, complete with a pair of prosthetic buck teeth. Wood later went on Instagram to describe the sketch as 'mean and unfunny,' while Goggins reposted the clip and complimented its humor. Many viewers interpreted this move as a not-so-subtle swipe at Wood. Goggins told Variety it was anything but, and that after he encountered Wood's hurt response, he 'felt awful and deleted his post.' 'I've been posting for 14 fucking years, and if I'm gonna say something, I'm gonna say it to your face,' Goggins said. 'I don't use social media in any way, and I'm not a mean guy.' Added Wood, 'I think it's such a comment on where we're at culturally. Why is everyone obsessing over Instagram? That is irrelevant. We don't give a shite about Instagram.' Goggins also addressed why he unfollowed Wood on Instagram after The White Lotus wrapped, as well as his recent interview with the U.K.'s Times, which was published with the title, 'Walton Goggins: Aimee Lou Wood? I'm not gonna have that conversation.' Regarding the Times story, Goggins said he simply did not feel as if a solo interview was the right time and space to address his relationship with Wood. 'What am I gonna do, speak for both of us? Never,' he said. Regarding Instagram, he explained that he unfollowed Wood as a way to distance himself not from Wood herself but from the experience of filming The White Lotus. 'My catharsis in this experience was different than other people's, because of my history in this place,' Goggins said of his time in Thailand, referencing his time spent traveling the country in the wake of his wife's suicide in 2004. 'I knew what [Aimee and I] had gone through, and I knew how close that we had gotten, and I needed to begin to process saying goodbye to Rick and Chelsea,' Goggins continued. 'And I knew that that was going to take a while for me, so I let her know, this is what I've gotta do. And she was extremely supportive about that.' He continued, 'I needed to just back away from everyone. I haven't spoken to anyone [from the cast]. I couldn't handle it. Judge me or don't. I don't give a fuck what you think. This is my process. Rick means everything to me, and Chelsea means everything to me. And so that's what I needed to do for me to process all of this.' At the end of their conversation, Variety reports that Goggins re-followed Wood on Instagram, and that they embraced. 'I completely understand,' Wood told him. His response: 'I love you.' If only Rick could have expressed his feelings with this much clarity! ELLE Collective is a new community of fashion, beauty and culture lovers. For access to exclusive content, events, inspiring advice from our Editors and industry experts, as well the opportunity to meet designers, thought-leaders and stylists, become a member today HERE.
CNN
26 minutes ago
- CNN
The entirely predictable Trump-Musk divorce threatens Musk's business empire
Elon Musk's decision to go all in on Donald Trump never made much sense. His scorched-earth approach to breaking up with Trump is even harder to square. As a close Trump ally, Musk's actions inevitably affected Tesla – the biggest piece of his business empire and the maker of one of the most visible and expensive items that Americans can purchase: electric vehicles. First, Musk turned off Tesla's core customers, Democrats on the coasts, by pouring money and using his influence to help Trump return to the White House. Then he took a chainsaw to the federal workforce. Trump confirmed their relationship has soured, with Musk repeatedly blasting the president's sweeping domestic agenda bill in recent days and a public fight on social media on Thursday. Now, Musk's war of words with the president risk turning off the same Trump voters who may have considered buying a Tesla until this week. Not only that, but Tesla's ambitions for self-driving vehicles require government approval, something that no longer looks like a sure thing amid the Musk-Trump feud. Other Musk businesses like SpaceX are built on government contracts – contracts that Trump wasted no time threatening on Thursday. The past 12 months – with Musk marrying himself to the polarizing Trump brand and then breaking up with him – look like a textbook example of what a CEO should not do, especially a consumer-facing CEO. 'It's a bit of a head-scratcher that Musk is going so rogue-negative towards Trump so quickly. It's a potentially very hazardous path,' Dan Ives, a senior equity research analyst at Wedbush Securities and a longtime Tesla bull, told CNN in a phone interview on Thursday. The Musk-Trump break-up, playing out on the billionaires' respective social media platforms, was both entirely predictable and shocking nonetheless. After Musk blasted Trump's policy bill as a 'disgusting abomination' earlier this week, Trump suggested Musk has 'Trump derangement syndrome.' Musk responded by undercutting Trump's political prowess, saying: 'Without me, Trump would have lost the election.' As two of the world's most powerful people continued to trade public barbs, Tesla shares dropped lower and lower. Tesla shares (TSLA) plummeted 14% on Thursday as the bromance between Trump and Musk imploded in front of the entire world. The selloff erased about $152 billion from Tesla's market value and $34 billion off Musk's net worth, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Tesla shareholders are dismayed on multiple levels. First, Musk taking on the president so publicly could further shrink the car maker's customer base by angering Trump backers. 'You could end up alienating both sides of the aisle in the course of just a few months. When you're a consumer-facing company, that's the opposite of what you want to do,' Ives said. Secondly, Tesla relies on the federal government for tax credits and for approval of its controversial full-self driving technology, a green light that investors had been hoping for after the election. Neuralink, Musk's brain chip startup, is also reliant on FDA approval. Bigger picture, the Trump administration will help set the regulatory landscape for autonomous vehicles, not to mention artificial intelligence and other Musk priorities. And the president has not been shy about flexing the power of the federal government to hurt his opponents. 'You want Trump nice in the sandbox. You don't want Trump on your bad side,' Ives said. Bill George, an executive fellow at the Harvard Business School and former CEO of health tech company Medtronic, described the recent feud as a 'brutal breakup.' 'Never go to war with the president of the United States,' he said. 'There's going to be a lot of collateral damage to your business.' Trump threatened on Thursday to go after Musk's business empire. 'The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon's Governmental Subsidies and Contracts,' Trump posted on his social media platform, Truth Social. 'I was always surprised that Biden didn't do it! SpaceX, Musk's privately held space company, relies heavily on federal contracts, especially from NASA. SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet recently won business from the Federal Aviation Administration to help the agency upgrade networks used to manage US airspace. Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, founder of the Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute, said the lesson is not about CEOs taking political positions. 'The lesson here is that there is no honor among thieves. These are two mob bosses that have had a parting of ways. And now they are going to take each other down,' Sonnenfeld told CNN. Harvard Business School's George noted that Musk and Trump had been acting like 'best bros' just days earlier. 'The lesson here is that you can either work in government or run your business,' George said. 'But you can't do both.'
Associated Press
26 minutes ago
- Associated Press
Another Year of Romance, with a Dark Twist, Circana BookScan Reports
CHICAGO, IL, June 06, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The market for romance books has been growing since 2021 and remains hot, according to Circana, LLC. In the U.S., year-to-date print sales for romance books are up 24%, versus the same period last year. The volume for romance books has more than doubled compared to four years ago, with 51 million units sold in the past 12 months. Circana BookScan data reveals that romance stands out among the adult fiction subjects showing the most growth in 2025. In fact, romance is the leading growth category for the total print book market thus far in 2025. Fastest growing romance subjects include romantasy and sports romance, each experiencing triple-digit growth, as well as suspense romance and contemporary romance. Romance readers are particularly desirable for the book industry. According to the latest findings from Circana's Future of™ Books study, 26% of romance book buyers report that they are reading 'much more' compared to a year ago – a behavior that is contributing to the growth for romance book sales. While Rebecca Yarros' latest release Onyx Storm – the fastest selling adult title in its opening week, in the 20-year history of BookScan – is a key factor in the romance sales growth, a lot of activity is happening beyond one major author. Even when excluding Yarros from the romance market, the category is still showing double-digit growth. H.D. Carlton, Rina Kent, and Elsie Silver are among the top growing romance authors this year. One key similarity among them is that their stories explore dark romance, including paranormal and anti-hero themes. A desire for dark subjects is surfacing within the romance book market. This trend aligns with other growing segments in adult fiction including psychological thrillers (+29%), dark fantasy (+23%), and horror (+13%). 'This year, I am watching a shift away from rosier romance subjects like romantic comedy and new adult romance in favor of authors and titles with darker themes,' said Brenna Connor, U.S. books industry analyst at Circana. 'Combined with the growth in other more intense fiction subjects like horror and dystopian, a new trend has emerged that's marked by darker escapist themes. These subject matters provide an outlet for readers to safely explore negative emotions such as sadness, anger, or anxiety – allowing them to feel connected and perhaps even comforted. I expect to see continued interest in these darker subjects in the year ahead.' About Circana Circana is a leader in providing technology, AI, and data to fast-moving consumer packaged goods companies, durables manufacturers, and retailers seeking to optimize their businesses. Circana's predictive analytics and technology empower clients to measure their market share, understand the underlying consumer behavior driving it, and accelerate their growth. Circana's Liquid Data® technology platform is powered by an expansive, high-quality data set, and intelligent algorithms trained on six decades of domain expertise. With Circana, clients can take immediate action to future-proof and evolve their growth strategies amid an increasingly complex, fast-paced, and ever-changing economy. Marissa Guyduy Circana +1 312-731-1782 [email protected]
