FILE - Dave Chappelle performs at Imagine Ball 2018 on Sept. 23, 2018, in Los Angeles.
Vivien Killilea/Getty Images for Imagine LAAfter threatening to boycott California wine country for good, controversial comedian Dave Chappelle is scheduled to return to Napa as part of Blue Note Jazz Festival Napa Valley.
Chappelle emceed the inaugural festival last year, which featured other major names like Snoop Dogg, Maxwell, Talib Kweli and Yasiin Bey (formerly known as Mos Def).
It seemed unlikely that the comedian would return to Napa based on his displeasure with the city’s noise ordinance. Chappelle was furious that performances were expected to end by 10 p.m. and lashed out at the entire region when the festival’s artist-in-residence, Grammy-winning pianist Robert Glasper, was initially unable to play past the curfew.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Chappelle swore to “never return” if Glasper was not able to finish his performance. (The Chronicle and SFGATE are both owned by Hearst but have separate newsrooms.)
“I’ll never drink a cup of wine from this dusty ass field,” he said. “I’ll drink Italian wines and French wines and South African wines. You cannot shut down Robert Glasper, ever. Let that be known.”
The comedian’s fight with Napa was hardly the only time Chappelle has courted controversy in the Bay Area. In a San Francisco show last December, Chappelle invited Tesla and Twitter CEO Elon Musk to the stage, where he was booed heartily by the Chase Center audience.
“It sounds like some of the people you fired are in the audience,” said Chappelle at the time, referencing the mass layoffs that happened when Musk gained control at Twitter.
The comedian also lashed out at transgender people during a premiere of his “Untitled Dave Chappelle Documentary” at Chase Center in 2021. The premiere came at the close of a multiyear controversy around Chappelle's transphobia that led to Netflix staffers walking out in protest.
The festival hasn't announced any other performers besides Chappelle and Glasper, who will again serve as artist-in-residence. Blue Note Napa is scheduled to take place July 28-30 at the Silverado Resort. Tickets and hotel packages are available now.
