Morning Wire - SNL Chappelle Controversy & Holiday Travel Costs | 11.12.22

Episode Date: November 12, 2022

Comedian Dave Chappelle will host Saturday Night Live amidst controversy, holiday travel will cost you more money this season, and the latest happenings in the world of sports. Get the facts first on Morning Wire. Black Rifle Coffee Get 10% off your first order or Coffee Club subscription with code WIRE: https://www.blackriflecoffee.com/ Good Ranchers Use code "WIRE" at checkout and get two Black Angus New York Strip Steaks FREE: https://www.goodranchers.com/WIRE     Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

comedian Dave Chappelle is set to host Saturday Night Live this weekend. This is Dave. He tells jokes for a living. We'll tell you why not all the writers are laughing about the choice of the controversial comedian. I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief John Bickley. It's November 12, and this is your Saturday edition of Morning Wire. Have you booked your holiday travel yet? Higher prices and longer lines could gobble up your budget.

And Washington commander's owner, Dan Snyder, faces legal problems, and Brittany Greiner is moved to a penal colony. That and more on our Saturday Sports News Roundup. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know. Veteran founded and operated Black Rifle Coffee Company is on a mission to help service members successfully transition from the military into entrepreneurship. And as for the coffee itself, well, Black Rifle is very selective about where they source their coffee beans. and very disciplined when it comes to ensuring the freshness of every single bag. And right now, you can go to black riflecoffee.com and use promo code wire for 10% off your first order

or when you sign up for a coffee club subscription. That's black rifle coffee coffee.com with promo code wire for 10% off your first order or when you sign up to become a coffee club member. After sparking staff walkouts at Netflix in 2021, comedian Dave Chappelle is reportedly facing another round of industry boycotts, this time at Saturday Night Live. Daily Wire Culture reporter Megan Basham is here now to tell us about the latest controversy surrounding Chappelle. So, Megan, it seems like Hollywood, or at least some of it, may not be ready to reembrace Dave Chappelle.

What's going on? Yeah, maybe not, because there are reports that some staff writers at S&L are still pretty upset about what Chappelle said in that special, and that was titled for those who forgot The Closer. So also, just to further refresh everyone's memories a little bit here, since it has. has been over a year. What he did was make some jokes about transgender people. And in particular, his comments about trans activists attacking Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling drew quite a bit of outrage.

And they canceled it because she said in an interview, and this is not exactly what she said, but effectually, she said, gender was a fact. And then the trans community got mad. They started calling her a turf. I didn't even know what the that was. but I know that trans people make up words to win arguments. So I looked it up. Turf is an acronym.

It stands for trans-exclusionary radical feminists. This is a real thing. I'm team turf. I agree. I agree, man. Gender is a fact. You have to look at it from a woman's perspective. So just a small sample there, but because of that,

Netflix saw a staff walkout over its decision to air the special, despite complaints from some trans activists and their supporters. And that ultimately ended with Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandoz telling employees that if they didn't feel like they could work on material they disagreed with, then they just have to work somewhere else. So that brings us to Saturday Night Live. So the show book Dave Chappelle to host for the third time this Saturday, and word is that some of the staff writers are boycotting. After Chappelle's appearance was announced, one of the writers who identifies as trans and non-binary posted an Instagram selfie from S&L's 30 Rock studio with this message, and I'll just quote, transphobia is murder and it should be condemned.

But that said, Chappelle's reps say he didn't see any evidence of a boycott when he visited 30 Rock for show meetings last week. SNL is not responding to media requests for comments so far. Now, what about the S&L cast? Any word from them? Well, reports are that they're happy to perform alongside Chappelle, and there may be some pretty good reason for that. So at the end of last season, we saw one of the largest cast member turnovers ever in the show's history. Eight stars left, and that included three of the biggest names of recent years, Kate McKinnon, 80 Bryant, and Pete Davidson. The last time we saw turnover that big for the cast was in 1995. Now, along with that, the show has also been struggling in ratings recently. In fact, last year's

season opener was the lowest premiere in the show's history. And like a lot of late night comedy, SNL has also suffered from some criticism that it's too political, too partisan. People say it almost exclusively makes jokes at the expense of the right. In fact, you've even heard some left-wing critics arguing that the show has been too soft on President Biden. So SNL creator, Lauren Michaels, has not said much. about those accusations, but he has said that season 48 is going to be a year of reinvention. And apparently booking a lightning rod like Chappelle, who counts some conservatives among his fans, may be part of that reinvention. Now, has Michael's ever addressed the fact that S&L seems to be

pretty partisan? Or has he justified at all why they make fun of the right so much more than the left? He did, actually. In 2014, he said it's because Republicans are better able to take a joke. He basically said that they tend to find caricatures of themselves funny while Democrats tend to take it personally. Interesting. Well, Megan, I'm going to count on you to watch that, and then you can report back for me. I will do that. All right. Thanks so much. That was Daily Wireculture reporter, Megan Basham. Coming up as travel season, fast approaches, travel costs are going up. While grocery store meat prices continue to rise, good ranchers is dedicated to helping you save as much as possible.

In fact, they're bringing Morning Wire listeners their best offer yet. For a limited time only, when you order from Good Ranchers.com slash wire and use promo code Wire at checkout, you'll get two Black Angus, New York strip stakes free with your order. Go to goodranters.com slash wire and use promo code wire at checkout.

Good Ranchers.com slash wire. Good Ranchers, American Meat delivered. Amid higher jet fuel costs and airline staffing shortages, brace yourself for a difficult holiday travel season. That's according to airline CEOs. Here to give us the details is Daily Wire's Charlotte Pins Bond. Charlotte holiday travel is notoriously hectic and people are likely excited to be fully traveling again.

But what can travelers expect this season in particular? In a nutshell, high prices and long lines. That doesn't sound good. Right. Delta's CEO Ed Bastien recently said that travelers booking flights in advance for the holidays are up a lot more than last year. An average round trip ticket is going to be around $380, which is $38, which is 38%. more than it was in 2021. Haley Berg, a top economist for the travel app hopper, she said that the cost of flights are already 40% higher or more than they were last year,

and at least 20 to 30% up from 2019. There are also some shifts in how people are traveling. Chief Commercial Officer for United Airlines, Andrew Nocella, said people are booking flights on different days around the holidays, rather than all on the same day. People who work remotely can be a little more flexible than they used to be if they worked in an office. Yeah, that makes sense. What are some reasons for the high costs? It seems that prices would go down as restrictions on travel loosened up. You would think. Even though more people are traveling now than during the pandemic, a lot of airlines aren't doing as many flights as they used to.

The cost of jet fuel has almost doubled, and of course there were recently still staffing shortages. It's a good idea to try and buy your flights early and also to be flexible because a lot of money can be saved if you travel on those surrounding days or in the actual holiday. Booking an earlier flight can also help. avoid delays. And if your flight is canceled, you can also try calling the international number of an airline, which can go around the domestic line. That's an interesting trick there. So those staffing shortages you're talking about, those were huge this summer. Do we expect to see cancellations like that again? Hopefully not. Airlines are addressing the lower levels of staff by cutting back on flights, and they've been trying to hire more people. In a recent interview, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg

addressed the tax dollar spending that went to airlines during the pandemic and how it impacted staffing. These dollars, these taxpayer dollars that went to rescue the airlines, they did have strings at that. If you took that taxpayer money, you couldn't turn around and fire people left and right. But there were still a lot of early retirement, where people, including pilots, who were very hard to replace. It takes a long time to train a pilot.

They were nudged into early retirement, or at least encouraged to do that in a way that left the airlines without some of the resilience and readiness they needed. Of course, we also know that many airlines enforced COVID vaccine mandates. That affected how many people they had working for them, too. Yeah, that was a major factor in some of those shortages. Well, there's a lot to watch here as the holiday season picks up. Charlotte, thanks for reporting. Thanks for having me.

That was DailyWire's Charlotte Pence-Bond. Three major stories rocked the sports world this week, involving Washington Commanders owner Dan Snyder, WNBA star Brittany Griner, and Kyrie Irving of the Brooklyn Nets. Here are the latest is Sports Writer and Crane and Company co-host David Cohn. Hey, David.

Hey, how are you? Good. So let's start with Dan Snyder and the Washington Commanders. What's the latest there? The Attorney General for the District of Columbia, Carl Racine announced this week that his office is suing Dan Snyder,

the commander's organization, the NFL, and Commissioner Roger Goddegener, for colluding to deceive district residents and for not fully cooperating with an investigation into toxic workplace culture. Remember, it was Racine's office which launched an investigation into the team around the time a U.S. House Committee

was also investigating the organization regarding this workplace cultural misconduct. Some are questioning whether Carl Racine has jurisdiction over this matter, considering the commanders are technically located in Landover, Maryland, but it's worth noting the team is being investigated on multiple fronts, John, including by the attorneys general of Virginia and D.C. Now, Congress, as well as the NFL.

So a lot of eyes on this organization. Exactly. Now, as for Dan Snyder's future in the NFL, he and his wife have retained the services of Bank of America securities to consider potential transactions. This could potentially include the sale of the franchise. When asked if Snyder is considering a full sale of the organization or just looking for minority stakes, a commander spokesperson stated, we are exploring all options. It's worth noting Forbes currently has the Washington franchise valued at $5.6 billion. So if somebody buys this, it's not going to be cheap. It's not going to be me. Now, there was also news released this week about Britney Greiner, that's the WMBA star who was imprisoned in Russia.

What can you tell us on that front? The process has begun for Brittany Griner to be transferred from the Moscow prison where she is currently incarcerated to a Russian penal colony, the conditions of which are said to be much harsher and prisoners are often forced into labor. This is a move that her family has feared since she was convicted on drug charges in August.

It remains unclear how the move will affect negotiations between U.S. officials and Russia regarding her release. The Biden administration is believed to have offered convicted Russian arms dealer Victor Bout in a two-for-one deal, including Brittany Griner and fellow American prisoner Paul Weillan. Russia has apparently demanded more in return, and they have also instructed U.S. officials to keep any negotiations private. Yeah, there's been a lot of attempts to get more information about that, and it's hard to get. In other basketball news, we have Kyrie Irving.

suspended by the Brooklyn Nets for what many are calling anti-Semitic behavior. What are the details of Irving's suspension? Yeah, this situation continues to unravel. Kyrie Irving tweeted a link recently to a controversial movie, which many believe promotes anti-Semitic sentiments. The backlash from this action has been intense, and Irving initially offered no apology. He has now been suspended indefinitely by the Brooklyn Nets

until he fulfills six conditions, set forth by the organization. The first of which is to issue an apology. Conditions two through five are really to complete sensitivity training with the Jewish community and meet with the Anti-Defamation League. Also a $500,000 donation towards causes and organizations that work to eradicate hate. And then step number six, after he completes one through five, is to meet with Nets owner Joe Tsai to demonstrate the lessons learned. and that he understands the gravity of the harm done. So far, Kyrie Irving has only apologized.

We don't know about any of the other conditions. Now, Mark Stein reports that the list could possibly have been crafted with the knowledge that Irving is unlikely to complete all six conditions, which could lead to his release by the franchise. Nett's owner, Josai, is clearly disappointed. He said, Kyrie appears to support a film based on a book which is full of anti-Semitic disinformation. This is bigger than basketball.

John, even corporate sponsors are retaliating. Nike co-founder Phil Knight said this week, Kyrie stepped over the line, and that's why we ended the relationship. Definitely several situations in the sports world to keep an eye on. David, thanks for coming on. Thank you. That was Crane & Company co-host, David Cohn.

Another story we're tracking this week. Tennessee lawmakers filed a bill Wednesday that would ban gender transition medical treatments and procedures for children in the state. The Protecting Children from Gender Mutilation Act would bar doctors from prescribing puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and performing gender-related surgeries on minors

for the purpose of medical transition. It would also allow patients and their families to sue for damages. That's all the time we've got this morning. Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back tomorrow with the news you need to know.