Comedian Dave Chappelle said he can understand why people voted for President Trump in 2016 — a stark contrast from some of the statements recently made by the anti-Trump elite.
“I don’t look at Trump supporters as my enemy at all,” Mr. Chappelle told reporters at a Tuesday event in Iowa supporting Democrat Andrew Yang for president. “I understand why people voted for Trump; I understand people are desperate. And I think that Andrew is right; you run against the reasons that Trump got elected.
“I got friends on both sides of the political aisle; I got fans on both sides of the political aisle,” he continued. “A lot of people say professionally it’s not wise to support any candidate, but this idea is so good that I think it should exist.
“Many of the good ideas on the table this year are coming from the same source, Andrew Yang, and for some reason, no one’s paying attention to him,” he said. “This guy is the origin of a platform that really does address where I think the country needs to go.”
Mr. Chappelle, who endorsed Mr. Yang earlier this month, is slated to campaign with him Thursday in Charleston, South Carolina.
His comments are a far cry from some of those uttered by celebrities and members of the media regarding Trump supporters. Earlier this month, Grammy-winning actor Alec Baldwin claimed that the “near moral collapse of this country falls squarely in the lap of Trump’s supporters.” Just this week, GOP strategist Rick Wilson and journalist Wajahat Ali came under fire for comments they made on CNN painting Trump supporters as ignorant hicks while host Don Lemon laughed hysterically.
