emmys 2020

Dave Chappelle Tells Critics to ‘Shut the F - - - Up Forever’ in Emmys Acceptance Speech

Dave Chappelle Photo: Vivien Killilea/Getty Images for Imagine LA

Dave Chappelle’s Broadway show turned Netflix special, Sticks & Stones, won three Emmy Awards this past weekend for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special, Outstanding Directing for a Variety Special, and Outstanding Variety Special (Prerecorded), and he didn’t hold back any of his feelings during his acceptance speech. The nearly three-minute clip — in which Chappelle is holding on to a cigarette that’s producing so much smoke when it’s not being puffed on that it’s downright suspicious — begins with Chappelle directly addressing critics who gave Sticks & Stones less-than-stellar reviews. “Boy, [this] comes as a complete surprise. I mean, I read all the reviews, and they said so many terrible things!” he said. “They were embarrassed for me; I’d lost my way; it wasn’t even worth watching. I hope all you critics learn from this. This is a teachable moment. Shut the fuck up forever!”

Chappelle went on to shout-out fellow nominees Tiffany Haddish, Patton Oswalt, Hannah Gadsby, and “brother Mulaney,” reassuring them with his take on the results: “I’m sorry you didn’t win tonight, but who gives a fuck anyway?” He added, “It’s a special night because comedy gets to be itself. It’s all we’ve ever wanted. I hope the war’s over. We good?”

Watch the clip below:

One fellow nominee who appeared to give at least a little of a fuck was Oswalt, who decided to share the Emmys acceptance-speech video that would’ve played at the Creative Arts Emmys on Saturday if he had won the award instead of Chappelle. It’s very cute.

Dave Chappelle to Critics: ‘Shut the F - - - Up Forever’