Comedian Dave Chappelle surprised students in D.C. at his alma mater Friday.
Chappelle participated in a master class on the topic arts as activism at Duke Ellington School of the Arts.
Last year, Ellington students raised concerns over a Chappelle Netflix special that some critics said contained comments considered transphobic. The comedian went classroom to classroom and wasn’t met with any negative feedback.
Chappelle talked with News4 about how Ellington helped shape who he is.
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“This is the extent of my formal education,” he said. “I never went to school beyond Ellington, and I feel like they prepared me really well for things that I wouldn’t even have anticipated that I needed to know, like, for instance, criticism. The fact that I could survive the 17 vicious news cycles or whatever it is, it instilled in me a sense of purpose and it gave me a feeling of refinement, which made me feel powerful as an artist.”
Chappelle performed his standup act at Capital One Arena Thursday night.
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