Opinion: Why Dave Chappelle was right to walk off stage due to rude crowd

It's nice to be nice people

On Aug. 29, 2013, comedian Dave Chappelle walked off the stage in Hartford, Connecticut after consistent noise, crowd chatter and outbursts disrupted the beginning of his set. Before walking off stage, Chappelle made sure to get his required twenty five minutes of stage time in, guaranteeing that he would be paid for the gig. To fill the time, Chappelle chatted with the audience, smoked cigarettes and read a book. Who's to blame for this incident? On social media, it's up for debate with some saying that the crowd was being rude and boisterous and others saying that it was just a normal crowd and Chappelle should have finished his set like a professional. It's a sorry state of affairs that we have come to expect a “normal” crowd to be disruptive and talk loudly to their friends while a performer is on stage. My opinion is that the crowd is to blame and I applaud Chappelle for standing up to the rudeness of the masses.

I recently experienced this “normal” crowd behavior at Mumford and Sons' Lollapalooza performance. The crowd was so loud that at one point Marcus Mumford actually had to tell them to “shut the fuck up for a minute” so they could play a quiet song. The technique worked and the chatter died down, but alas the bulk of the set was already ruined.

 

Besides being rude at shows, why do people feel the need to berate performers on the internet for not living up to their impossible standards? Nine Inch Nails have been catching a lot of criticism for their new upbeat track “Everything.” In a recent interview with Spin, Trent Reznor explained his slightly lighter approach to making music. “I'm happy with who I am now. I feel fortunate to be where I am. We tried arranging the new songs with loud guitars, and it sounded false. Instead, we approached those old emotions in new ways that are subtler, and I think just as powerful.” If Reznor were to go through the motions and give fans what they want, I'm sure he would still get complaints of “it sounds the same” or “they haven't evolved.” As a society, we hold artists to an impossible standard and we can't wait to knock them down.

In Jamie Kennedy's funny and thoughtful 2007 documentary “Heckler,” Tom Green speaks to this phenomenon. He explains that when he was making his show in Canada people would only write about him because they liked the show. Contrastingly, when he got on MTV, “people started sharpening their knives.” Throughout “Heckler,” Kennedy confronts some of his harshest critics, some of whom said that he should die for producing bad movies. You can see the critics squirm as Kennedy looks them in the eye. Hearing their cruel words being read out loud by the person they criticized, there is no denying that they went to far.

The anonymity of the internet or being in a large crowd, shouldn't give people free reign to be hateful to others who are creating music, comedy, films or any form of art. It takes great courage to put yourself out there as an artist. I don't think that anyone would appreciate being heckled, booed or mocked in their daily life, so why are they so free to dish it out? 

We can all help to change this by not giving attention to sensationalized stories that exploit artists in negative ways. We can think about performers as actual people, not just someone who entertains us. And when we purchase a ticket to see an artist perform, we can put away our cellphones, stop talking and give the artist, as well as our fellow crowd members, the courtesy of being quiet. There are more positive, thoughtful people in the world and we need to stay strong and not feed into the crowd mentality of being a self involved jerk. It shouldn't be difficult and I am hopeful that as a society we can change.