Comedy

Dave Chappelle Returns to His DC Alma Mater, Gives Emmy to School

While the comedian's job is to make jokes, he was serious Friday and made clear that his D.C. education is important to him

Comedian Dave Chappelle returned to his home town Washington D.C. Friday to speak to students at his alma mater.

"You have an opportunity to make yourself into a very unique individual because you're a trained artist," Chappelle told students at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Northwest.

The comedian gave the school his Emmy award which he won earlier in the month for his appearance on Saturday Night Live. At the event, Mayor Muriel Bowser thanked Chappelle for his recognition of D.C. schools and gave him a key to the city.

Chappelle had given a shout out to D.C. Public Schools during the award show and sparked #DCPublicSchools to trend nationally on Twitter.

"Now I'm going to read this teleprompter. Please forgive me. Shoutout to D.C. Public Schools. Here we go," Chappelle had said at the Emmys.

While the school system was the butt of his joke, he made clear Friday his D.C. education is important to him.

"It's the pinnacle of my former education. I didn't go to school beyond high school and as I told the children...I was very well prepared when I got here. That which I did not know, I was prepared enough to be able to figure it out and I'm very grateful for the opportunity to get to go to a school that's like this," Chappelle said after his speech to the students.

"To be able to A, be in the same space as him and B, have some type of direct connection to him, it's mind-blowing," student Makael Exum said.

Chappelle also commented on the NFL kneeling controversy during his visit, telling reporters, "Like I always say, those who take a knee are standing for me."

More than 200 NFL players either knelt or used other means as expressions of unity last weekend.

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