Dave Chappelle makes plea to Donald Trump before inauguration on SNL: "Please, do better next time"

Dave Chappelle delivered a heartfelt message during his opening monologue on the latest episode of "Saturday Night Live."  

After performing an extended stand-up set where he made jokes about Sean "Diddy" Combs and other topics, Chappelle shared an emotional story about a moment when former President Jimmy Carter inspired him. He used this story to make a plea to president-elect Donald Trump ahead of his inauguration on Monday.  

“I was in the Middle East years ago, after I quit my show. I was trying to find out what I wanted to do with my life,” the comedian recounted. “While I was there, Jimmy Carter flew to Israel, so everybody in the region was talking about a former American president being in the Middle East.”  

Chappelle explained that during Carter’s visit to Israel, he was releasing his 2006 book, *Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid.* Despite warnings from the Israeli government against visiting Palestinian territories due to safety concerns, Carter decided to go anyway.  

“And man, Jimmy Carter went anyway. I will never forget the images of a former American president walking with little to no security while thousands of Palestinians were cheering him on,” Chappelle said. “And when I saw that picture, it brought tears to my eyes. I said, ‘I don’t know if that’s a good president, but that right there, I am sure, is a great man.’”  

The audience applauded Chappelle’s sentiments, and he then addressed Trump directly, saying, “the presidency is no place for petty people.”  

He urged Trump to remember that whether people “voted for you or not, they’re all counting on you. Whether they like you or not, they’re all counting on you. The whole world is counting on you.”  

“I mean it when I say this: Good luck. Please, do better next time. Please, all of us, do better next time,” he said.  

“Do not forget your humanity and please have empathy for displaced people, whether they’re in the Palisades or Palestine,” he added, referencing the Los Angeles wildfires that have devastated the Pacific Palisades neighborhood and other areas.  

Chappelle joked that he eventually agreed to host after realizing it was an opportunity to “get rid of” old Trump jokes, which made him decide to accept the offer.  

He also poked fun at how he noticed many Hollywood celebrities seemed to be invited to Combs’ infamous “freak-off” parties, while he wasn’t.  

Chappelle humorously speculated that it was because he gave off “snitch energy,” quipping, “I look like I’ll tell.”  

GloRilla served as the musical guest for the episode, while Timothée Chalamet is set to host and perform as the musical guest on the next episode of "Saturday Night Live."