Comedian Neal Brennan is close friends with Dave Chappelle and was one of the brains behind Chappelle's Show. Because of their close connection, Brennan is sometimes pegged as the person that sparked the end of the sketch comedy series. During an appearance on Talib Kweli's People Party podcast, Brennan addresses these rumors while touching on his current relationship with the veteran comedian.
"If you assume Chappelle's Show ended on some racist shit then who else are you going to hold responsible?" Brennan said about a minute into the clip. Brennan goes on to say that the charismatic persona that made Chappelle a comedic superstar prevents fans from realizing that people can be angry with him.
"That's actually proof of not racism," Brennan continues. "That I can openly fucking fight with my friend.... But people don't like someone that they really like—they don't like you disagreeing with them."
Chappelle's Show came to an abrupt ending in 2005 after Chappelle left the series. There has been a lot of speculation surrounding what caused Chappelle to leave Comedy Central. Although he can be the scapegoat, Brennan insists that he and Chappelle are great friends. He also won't disclose their disagreements or the behind-the-scenes issues with Chappelle's Show.
"It's hard because it's like private," Brennan said at the clip's 5:45-minute mark. "Like I do want people to know stuff but at the same time it's private.... It's a guy I know so well that it's laughable how well I know him."
Brennan is one of the comedians that helped honor Dave Chappelle with the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor on Sunday at the Kennedy Center. The full episode of Neal Brennan's conversation with Talib Kweli will hit YouTube on Monday.
