Finally! Some inside information into the cancellation of Chappelle Show’s third season has been revealed and as it turns out, it’s even wilder than you could have imagined. An anonymous source has laid out a time line in stunning detail that follows the rise and fall of Chappelle’s Show from January 2003 to May of 2005. It’s called “The Chappelle Theory” and you can read it for yourself here (but if you do, stop reading this story now and come back to it later as you don’t want to ruin the surprise).
According to this source, the decision to cancel the show came as a result of a dubious conspiracy laid out by a group of powerful African-Americans secretly known as the Dark Crusaders. The theory states that this group, which includes Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Louis Farrakhan, Bill Cosby, Whoopi Goldberg, Oprah Winfrey and Robert L. Johnson, had helped Dave Chappelle in various ways over the years to become a success but became increasingly concerned over the actor’s portrayal of African-Americans on his show. Eventually, they launched a full fledged secret war on Chappelle, complete with threatening phone calls, mysterious packages, and eventual threats against Chappelle and his family.
The theory is incredibly detailed and seems to have insider information into the inner workings of Chappelle’s career and personal life. Turns out however, that the whole thing was a piece of satirical gorilla marketing genius by the had of Chappelle’s Show producer/writer Neal Brennan. After spending about 20 minutes reading through the whole theory in amazement thinking, “oh man, this makes sense. I hate Bill Cosby,” the last page is a promo shot for a forthcoming (spring ‘06) short film called The Chappelle Theory Exposed, starring Charlie Murphy and written by Neal Brennan. There are two links on the site, one to view a trailer for the film and one to watch an interview with Charlie Murphy. Both are broken… sadly.
Kudos Neal Brennan… you had me goin’
Related:
