Why a Dave Chappelle clip from 20 years ago may have predicted today's response to the Black Lives Matter movement

Comedian Dave Chappelle has always had his finger on the pulse.

For years, he’s talked about how black people in America are subject to police brutality and violence, even on mainstream TV networks when it wasn't popular.

A recently resurfaced clip from 2000 shows just how prescient he was. In it, he mocks someone reading a magazine.

On Twitter, someone pointed out that Chapelle almost predicted the new cover of Time Magazine, which came out last week. It has an image from a Black Lives Matter protest, and is about police brutality and systemic violence. It’s even the May issue of the magazine, just like Chapelle says.

The clip of Chapelle is from his 2000 stand up special, Killin Them Softly, where Chapelle delved into issues like racism, drug use and police brutality. People pointed out that Chapelle has been talking about the same issues for 20 years.

Chapelle is talking about those issues even today – Netflix recently released a clip from Chapelle’s new stand up special.

In the clip, Chapelle talks about the death of George Floyd and Eric Garner, and takes aim at prominent media figures like pro-Trump Candace Owens.

The clip is a fragment of a show that will be coming out later this month on Netflix, titled Dave Chapelle & Friends: A Talk with Punchlines.