Dave Chappelle is being accused of striking down proposed affordable housing, but the comedian’s rep asserts he is doing the opposite.
A video recently exploded on social media featuring Chappelle at a Village Council meeting in his hometown of Yellow Springs, Ohio. The stand-up comedian chastised the council for its housing development plans, threatening to pull $68 million worth of investments in the city.
“I cannot believe you would make me audition for you. You look like clowns,” Chappelle said in the viral video. “I am not bluffing. I will take it all off the table.”
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Dave Chappelle personally came to a city council meeting and threatened to remove his $65m dollars of investments from his city if they allowed a developer to move forward with an affordable housing program. The objection wasn't to the build, but the affordable housing component. https://t.co/3ahCy1KqmN pic.twitter.com/l8MTxhhlJ7
— grimm (@ExileGrimm) February 9, 2022
A spokesperson for Chappelle rejected the narrative their client was pushing against affordable housing. The rep argued the proposed plan was operating under the false pretense of building affordable homes.
“Dave Chappelle didn’t kill affordable housing. Concerned residents and a responding Village Council ‘killed’ a half-baked plan which never actually offered affordable housing,” Chappelle’s rep told Yahoo! Entertainment. “Without question, Dave Chappelle cares about Yellow Springs. He’s sewn into the fabric of the Village. The passion with which he delivered his comments during the Village Council meeting was just as evident as when he fought to create living-wage jobs with his famed ‘Summer Camp’ for residents during the height of the COVID pandemic.
“Neither Dave nor his neighbours are against affordable housing, however, they are against the poorly vetted, cookie-cutter, sprawl-style development deal which has little regard for the community, culture and infrastructure of the Village.”
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The rep argued the development deal would accelerate the homogenization of Yellow Springs.
“The whole development deal, cloaked as an affordable housing plan, is anything but affordable. Three out of 143 lots would have been for ‘future’ affordable housing. The rest of the homes were to be priced between $250k and upwards of $600k.
“In Yellow Springs, and in many other places, that is not considered affordable housing. Instead, it’s an accelerant on the homogenization of Yellow Springs.”
