Comedian Dave Chappelle made history by holding the first concert, “8:46” in North America amid the COVID-19 pandemic. 100 attendees made their way to the surprise special on race relation in America. It was an intimate, socially distanced discussion called “8:46” that was held on June 6 and available late Thursday night (it can be streamed for FREE on Netflix’s comedy YouTube channel.)

Chappelle talks about his experience in a terrifying 35-second earthquake while he was a young man in California and compared it to the terrifying amount of time George Floyd was under the knee of the Minneapolis police officer.

“He knew he was going to die” the standup said during the outdoor event and took the time to relate to the video to like the rest of America did; to the people who felt rage and the people who tried to dismiss it. He goes on to explain the unrest right now and how it feels to say “please” as a man. He relates to the dehumanization that black men must feel and how powerless they can be against the horrors of racism.

Chappelle said that the viral video reminded him of his own father on his deathbed and he celebrated the nationwide protests.

Although he does not show the actual video of George Floyd, he does cut to real footage of Eric Garner for effect.

He brings home again that we are fighting a war on terror right here in our own home and goes on to talk about Trayvon, Philando Castille, Dylan Roof’s victims and the lost lives that got lost in the media coverage like John Crawford.

“You trust me,” he mentioned after telling a story about how the same cop who stopped him shot an unarmed and innocent John Crawford.

The media shapes a narrative. News should not be entertainment and entertainment should not have to be the ones to inform us, even though the special does a great job at it. There were some laughs when he spoke about Candance Owens and Azalea Banks. He also comes at Laura Ingram, a news anchor at Fox, and how she told Lebron James to “shut up and dribble.”

Yes, he talks about slavery (because it applies), the late Kobe Bryant and how we treat black celebrities. America tends to disregard the voices of civilian blacks and pay attention to the celebrity blacks that are often so removed from any systemic oppression that could affect the average black man.  

“Do we give a f- what Ja Rule thinks?” he repeats his classic joke now powerful sentiment. “Why would people care what their favorite comedian thinks?” It is refreshing to see him drive the point home that this current climate is not entertainment, this is humanity.