Cringey image from the Twitter thread:
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In 2005, apartheid had been gone for over a decade. Nelson Mandela had already become President and been gone for 6 years. The 90s were a period of enormous change in South Africa, and it was old news by 2005.
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Fine. That doesn’t change the fact that a bunch of snarky pundits and comedians were still making comments about the irony of a black man choosing that destination to seek refuge back in 2005. Yes, I concede that the comments were probably outdated even at the time.
More to the point of this discussion, Chapelle clearly feels a lot of empathy for Musk, despite the fact that he’s one of the world’s richest men and got his family wealth from the exploitation of black South African labor (including involvement with an emerald mine) and that seems notable.
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Bears pointing out that, afaict, those same snarky pundits don’t expect the vacation or “refuge” destinations of white celebs to reflect the values of their race to such a degree. The fact that this is even a point of discussion for Chappelle is just more evidence of racism.
And to be clear, I’m no fan. I just think it’s ridiculous that he was called out for where he decided to take a break.
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Thanks. That is great and I’m going to steal it sometime.
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Repeating it without further thought. It’s probably something that he relies on to bring up on podcasts. I imagine you can talk about whether the world is a simulation for hours on a podcast.
The thing is: if we’re in a simulation but can’t investigate that meaningfully, then it’s kind of moot. It’s unfalsifiable and therefore outside the realm of natural science. It’s the problem of hard solipsism.
I’d much prefer Elon to have walked on stage and said “this is evidence that I am a brian in a jar.”
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So what you’re saying is that Chapelle is the kind of Black man who is a fanboi of a white South African whose family money came from Black South African labor/slavery and oh-by-the-way he also thinks vacationing in that same country is a good idea.
Seems to be all of a piece, not contradictory at all.
Maybe that’s why he was mocked for the trip at the time. Turns out, those comedians were prescient.
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I mean if only he did a major interview with Oprah or something about his sudden departure and why Africa, right?
FWIW I don’t remember anyone caring about it being South Africa at the time but I was not watching TV about it on my own at that age. Still I recall most people were just shocked because he walked off the set and didn’t finish the rest of the season so people thought he was going to wash up somewhere dead or something. To me whether or not some critical mass of other black americans could or would travel to South Africa is entirely beside the point when obviously Chapelle believed there was some perspective on his own life that could be gained from going there.
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To be clear, I’m not criticizing him for choosing to go there in 2005. And apparently it was more of an “escape / mental health break” than vacation. Even most of the comics at the time weren’t criticizing him, per se. More like pointing to the irony that the world situation had changed such that a black man would seek refuge there.
He also did an interview with Inside the Actors’ Studio about it, IIRC.
The more this conversation goes on, the more tone-deaf and cringe it gets…
SMH
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Boo-urns! That’s the sound a Tesla makes.
Almost felt bad for Musk. Then I remembered !!>>EVERYTHING<<!! and it passed.
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From the comment thread to that Jezebel article:
Musk, for his part, couldn’t craft a joke if you spotted him the chicken, the road and the crosswalk.
I’m going to remember that one!
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I laugh at every little thing that chips at musk’s ego. I think the space he takes up ‘rent-free’ in my mind is effectively paid for by the petty joy I take in the slow demise of the public perception of him, especially this last month. I used to hate musk articles, now I love them. I’ve come full circle 
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