Henrietta Wildsmith/The Times / USA TODAY NETWORK
Dave Chappelle's recent joke about Charlie Kirk mirrored Tony Hinchcliffe's about George Floyd
A recent joke about Charlie Kirk that Dave Chappelle told sounded a bit familiar. That’s because it’s the same one that Tony Hinchcliffe told about George Floyd during The Roast of Kevin Hart earlier this year.
A clip from Dave Chappelle’s recent Madison Square Garden performance has gone viral after it was noticed that the structure of the punchline was identical to the one used by Tony Hinchcliffe while mocking George Floyd during the Kevin Hart roast.
Dave Chappelle’s Charlie Kirk punchline at his recent Madison Square Garden mirrored Tony Hinchcliffe’s George Floyd joke
In the clip, Chappelle jokes that Charlie Kirk is “looking up at us right now, laughing so hard he can’t breathe.”
“I’m sure Charlie Kirk is looking up at us right now, laughing so hard he can’t breathe”
Dave Chappelle makes a joke about Charlie Kirk during his show at Madison Square Garden https://t.co/in4UIQaiyx
— FearBuck (@FearedBuck) November 9, 2026
The wording closely resembles Hinchcliffe’s Floyd joke from the May roast of Kevin Hart on Netflix, which also described the deceased man (Floyd) looking upward and laughing until he couldn’t breathe — “looking up” implying that the subject is watching from hell rather than heaven.
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The joke Dave Chappelle told about Charlie Kirk uses the exact same punchline that Tony Hinchcliffe used in a joke about George Floyd.Chappelle is doing this as a test to see if the right is really commitment to free speech.
I know I’m going to get flack for this but… https://t.co/e6J3JVTjHS
— Wokal Distance (@wokal_distance) November 9, 2026
since this seems to be going over people’s heads: this is a response to Tony Hinchcliffe, who told the same exact joke about George Floyd at the Kevin Hart roast
— manny (@mannyfidel) November 9, 2026
A separate clip from the same event shows Chappelle joking about feeling better following Kirk’s murder. Kirk, the Turning Point USA co-founder, was killed during an appearance at a Utah college in September 2025.
Dave Chappelle: ‘Ever since that guy Charlie Kirk GOT MURDERED… and I shouldn’t say this publicly but…. I FEEL BETTER’
‘I just be driving around like ‘Why am I in such a GOOD MOOD?… Oooh” https://t.co/Z9bIwvQdRl
— RT (@RT_com) November 8, 2026
His widow, Erika Kirk, condemned “leftist comedians and podcasters” treating political assassination as entertainment in a statement posted Sunday. While she did not specifically name Chappelle, she described making a punchline out of someone’s death as “beyond disgusting.”
To see leftist podcasters, comedians, and commentators laugh about political assassination as though it’s entertainment and the destruction of a human life is a punchline, is beyond disgusting.
My husband, Charlie Kirk, was killed in an act of political violence, something our two children and I will live with every day for the rest of our lives.
A culture that laughs at assassination is one of profound moral decay. It threatens the very foundation of our country and the principles that hold our democracy together.
You do not have to agree with someone’s politics to recognize the value of their life. This should not be so hard.
Political violence must never be something this country tolerates, excuses, or celebrates.
— Erika Kirk (@MrsErikaKirk) November 8, 2026