Comedian Dave Chappelle is hosting a free benefit concert for Dayton, Ohio, on Sunday to honor people killed in this month’s mass shooting and to benefit families and survivors.
Dave Chappelle appears on “Jimmy Kimmel Live.”
The event is called Gem City Shine in a nod to the city’s nickname and comes three weeks after nine people were killed in the downtown Oregon District.
Chappelle — a resident of Yellow Springs, Ohio, about 20 miles outside of Dayton — took the stage Sunday evening to cheers and applause, telling the crowd, “Today we’re going to show the world that nothing will get us down.”
“Dayton, Ohio, no matter what’s going on, no matter how tough these times get, we hold our heads up high, because we know what we’re about,” he said.
“And we’re not just doing this for our city,” he added. “We’re doing this for every victim of every mass shooting in our country.”
The event’s being held the day after the comedian’s birthday, and at the event, Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley handed Chappelle a birthday card and told him the city had declared Sunday “Dave Chappelle Day” in Dayton.
“You heard it here first,” Chappelle said. “Keep the kids out of school, it’s Dave Chappelle Day.”
The artist Thundercat was first to take the stage in what’s expected to be a star-studded affair that will stretch into Sunday night.
Additional performers have not been announced. Rapper and producer Kanye West was in Dayton’s RiverScape Metro Park on Sunday morning, hosting his Sunday Service. His wife, Kim Kardashian West, tweeted a linkto the performance, writing, “In support of the victims and survivors of the Dayton mass shooting.”
Whaley announced the concert Wednesday, adding that people unable to attend can donate to the Oregon District Tragedy Fund.
Sunday’s event takes place from 4 to 10 p.m. It is free, but tickets were required and were previously distributed. No more will be available, the event page said.
According to WDTN, organizers expect the event to draw thousands of people and have warned it could reach capacity. A ticket does not guarantee entry, the station reported.
‘These are people’s lives,’ Chappelle says
“Dayton had a tough year,” Chappelle told CNN in an interview, pointing to a rally by a small group affiliated with the KKK, a tornado that devastated parts of the area and then this month’s shooting. “Locally, there’s a determination to not let that define us and to shake the fear.”
The comedian was on tour and about to step out on stage, he said, when he got a news alert about the shooting, just miles from his home. “I couldn’t believe it,” he said.
“Something like this happens in your city … it makes it all very real,” he said. “You realize these aren’t numbers, these are people’s lives.”
The next morning, he said, he called the mayor and planning for Sunday’s event got underway.
“We just got to be kind to each other — deliberately and willfully kind, even when it’s hard to do,” Chappelle said.
Click here for our full coverage on the Dayton mass shooting.
