That’s pretty much correct except he was being paid $50 million for the third season, not the second.
Perfection. If I could afford to retire, that’s where I’d go.
It’s not always cold there. And what does the economy matter to a millionaire? Yellow Springs is a very nice hippie town in the middle of farmland. I’m sure he gets all the weed he wants.
It’s where he’s from. He likes the people, the atmosphere. He’s said that in Yellow Springs, people don’t treat him like a celebrity. It’s true. When I saw him in Yellow Springs, I left him alone.
He didn’t like what he had to give them in exchange for the money. Chappelle was in show business for a long time before he became famous. Things change suddenly when you become famous and most people aren’t prepared for that. And he gave pretty detailed explanations of what he didn’t like about what he had to give up in exchange for $50 million. Until they start to enforce a contract, it’s not necessarily clear up front what you’re actually getting yourself into.
$50 million is still dogfood in certain respects. Ever heard Chris Rock explain the difference between being “rich” and “wealthy”? The guy writing a check for $50 million has a lot more power than the guy taking the check.
Most celebrities complain about this kind of stuff. People get into creative fields because they want their work appreciated. They don’t necessarily catch on until it’s too late how much it can change yourlife.
This one sentence here is a good illustration of why celebrity can make people crazy. The public makes all kinds of demands on you and then when you try to meet them, they call you names. The only reason Chappelle went into this kind of stuff is because people wouldn’t leave him alone and kept demanding explanations.
I saw an interview he did, maybe “Inside the Actors Studio”, where he said one reason he left was the racist skecthes they were doing. He said something like during the first season it was all in fun and they were just goofing around but in the second season people were taking the sketches the wrong way.
He said early in the show when they did those type of sketches peoples attitudes were like, “Haha it’s funny that you guys are making fun of that stereotype.” and later some peoples attitudes changed to, “Haha that sketch is funny because the stereotype is true.” or something like that and he said that bothered him.
True dat. Ever been to Erie? Entirely new set of road rules. Avoid at all costs.
I can kind of see that. I used to know a guy who was a birther and had no problem throwing the n-word into casual conversation. Yet he loved this show.
You have reason to be surprised. The story started on a celeb gossip site and has no credibility, any more than the claims of mental issues and weed smoking.
He lives in YS because his family lives here, his friends live here, and he can enjoy some level of privacy and respect in a town that knows him well enough to know the stories on celeb sites are just, well gossip. Some of the claims and stories are laughable at times.
ys resident
FYI, I live not far from Yellow Springs. It’s a hippie town; lots of art shops and cafes. It’s a bit out of place in this part of Ohio.
Another FYI…
I am friends with the owners of a large motorcycle shop in Springfield, OH. A couple months ago Mr. Chappelle came in to purchase a motorcycle from them. He was trading in an old bike for a new one. (I forget what kind if motorcycle they said it was.) Anyway, I guess the new bike had quite a bit more horsepower than his old one, and they said Mr. Chappelle was scared to death he would wreck it on the way home. So Mr. Chappelle asked a couple of the sales guys to follow him as he rode it home.
A sensible precaution. I’ve heard of people trashing powerful new motorcycles within 30 seconds of the dealership beacuse they could not control them properly.
OMG I used to live there!!!
“Yellow Springs” brings to mind images of beautiful woods, waterfalls, hiking trails, Glen Helen, Clifton Gorge, natural food stores and vegetarian restaurants (even in the 80s!!) and dirty Ohio hippies playing Frisbee Golf…
The stuff about weed comes from his own mouth.
Utter rubbish. It’s as home-grown as anything else in that part of Ohio.
I was never impressed by the Chappelle Show but I enjoyed some of the standup he did. He came across as a whiny bitch when he quit and I lost a lot of respect for him. Fuck him, wherever he is.
Why do so many people seem to think Ohio is some kind of frostbitten, post-industrial wasteland? Much of the state is quite lovely, IMO (not so much when you’re driving).
Personally I have always believed that this is because some huge majority of ex-pat Ohioans seem to be from Cleveland. If the only Ohioans you ever meet are ex-Clevelandites, then of course you’re going to think that Ohio is some kind of frostbitten, post-industrial wasteland.
And really, even Cleveland isn’t that bad. 
In what context and when, before 98? After that it is hardly likely since he became a muslim, and he certainly doesn’t hang around town doing such a thing.
I live here now and the only dirty hippies I see are the wanna be’s who come to town on weekends because they think we are a hippie town, and other tourists come and think the town is full of hippies and take photos LOL!
Last time I saw hippie type frisbee throwers were back in the late 70’s and most of them were either antioch students or visitors.
It’s nowadays a thriving arts town, voted top ten coolest small towns in Americaby Budget Travel, Best small town this year by Ohio Magazine.
Chamber of Commerce has the links.
I think some of it may be biologically based mental issues, but IMO just from what I’ve seen and read over time of musicians, comedians, actors and other celebrities behaving erratically, the vast majority of this “crazy” behavior is simply due to chronic drug abuse. Unfortunately the majority of these reveals usually come out after the celebrity is dead, and their buddies and associates begin telling their tales of the departeds massive drug use.
How would you know? Do you live here, hang out with his family, see him in town? You are not in a positon to presume his mental health.
If this site is about fighting ignorance then may I suggest you and others here get their facts straight about Yellow Springs and not rely on unsubstantiated gossip for information about Dave Chapelle.
What was meant (I believe) was what I stated earlier, viz.: This region of the state is overwhelmingly socially conservative. So to have a hippie utopia in the midst of said reactionary region is a bit out of the ordinary.
In case you missed the Forum header descriptions this is not Great Debates or the General Questions Q&A section. This is an open chat thread about opinions on what the hell happened to Dave Chappelle. Beyond Chappelle’s history of fairly bizarre behavior,going up to a pilot and laying your hands on himin the middle of a flight while making demands is not “quirky” or “offbeat”, to me IMO, it’s so far beyond rational behavior it’s something someone would do who is high as a kite on coke or something similar.
I miss Dave Chappelle and his work. It sounds like you know him or his family. I sure hope he creates more of his genius comedy.