Comedian Dave Chappelle is reflecting on the night of Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential victory and the emotional response it triggered behind the scenes at NBC’s Saturday Night Live.
In a recent conversation with fellow comedian Mo Amer for Variety, Chappelle described the reaction from the SNL staff and writers after Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election.
“Man, when they called Donald Trump to win, that sh*t shut the writer’s room down,” Chappelle said.
“You should have seen them in there.”
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According to Chappelle, the emotional impact on the SNL team was immediate and severe.
“They were crying like Black people,” he continued, noting how stunned the cast and writers were.
“They couldn’t believe that this was happening.”
Dave Chappelle reveals what the SNL writer’s room looked like when Trump got elected in 2016: “That s**t shut the writers room down.”https://t.co/VW4gwr7t8l pic.twitter.com/JwHTe9nyd9
— Variety (@Variety) June 4, 2025
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Chappelle hosted SNL on November 12, 2016, just days after the election.
His appearance included a now-famous opening monologue in which he encouraged Americans to give President Trump a chance, a message that stood out amid the highly polarized political climate at the time.
Discussing that monologue during his interview with Amer, Chappelle reflected on how he viewed that moment in hindsight.
“Oh, I remember that part,” Chappelle said.
“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 also mentioned that when he returned to host SNL during the 2020 election, he came prepared with two separate monologues—one in the event of a Trump victory, and another for a Joe Biden win.
The shock and disappointment among SNL cast members and other media figures following Clinton’s loss in 2016 was widely publicized at the time.
In the first episode after the election, cast member Kate McKinnon opened the show by performing Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” in character as Hillary Clinton, in what was seen as a somber tribute to both the late singer and the election outcome.
Chappelle’s comments come as the political landscape continues to reflect the lasting impact of Trump’s presidency.
In 2024, former Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign failed to gain traction, and many political analysts viewed it as lacking momentum from the start.
President Trump’s reelection campaign, meanwhile, capitalized on public dissatisfaction with inflation, immigration, and foreign policy under the previous administration.
Although Chappelle did not express political endorsement during the interview, his comments underscored the emotional weight of Trump’s first win and the effect it had on those in the entertainment industry.
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