Helen Lewis: Dave Chappelle’s Rorschach test He followed what they called an ‘incentive.’”Ĭhappelle tells Ellison’s story to illustrate the lengths to which someone will go to succeed by the standards of their time. Owning slaves “was the construct of successful people, and he just followed the road map of successful people. “The point of that story is that this person was invested in a construct,” Chappelle continues. “Not only was he a slave owner he became a slave breeder,” Chappelle explains, “and employed tactics that were so cruel, even white slave owners were like, ‘Yo, my man.’” At the midpoint of Dave Chappelle’s The Closer-his sixth comedy special for Netflix-he introduces the story of William Ellison, a formerly enslaved Black man who, after purchasing his own freedom, became one of the wealthiest slave owners in South Carolina.
