The Donnell Rawlings and Corey Holcomb Beef

After some back and forth, here’s the latest bit on the Donnell Rawlings and Corey Holcomb feud, and Dave Chappelle’s involvement in it. 

How it All Started

After the viral interview of Katt Williams on Club Shay Shay, where Katt called out a lot of big names in the entertainment industry, Dave Chapelle had something to say about it.

Basically, Chapelle said that Katt only called out his own black community, and said that there isn’t any need for him to be “painting a bad picture of us”, when all of them are just trying to make some money.

Dave Chappelle says Katt Williams was wrong for hating on Black Comedians:

“He only Ethered niggas. He didn’t say anything about any of these white boys. …What part of the game f*cks up another nigga’s paper?”pic.twitter.com/PccIKgyFAW

— Kollege Kidd (@KollegeKidd) January 20, 2024

The viral interview made headlines and sparked a lot of controversy in industry, and the next episode of Club Shay Shay, where Oscar-winner, Mo’Nique was invited to host further fueled the fire.

Even the podcast host, Shannon Sharpe didn’t dodge the beef that branched out from the interview as he had to face a few back and forths with another comedian, Mike Epps.

Both Mo’Nique and Katt Williams were criticized heavily, and were urged to make amends properly with the people they called out – to stop the infighting between the black community.

Holcomb vs. Chapelle

However, there were a few comics who sided with Williams and instead targeted Dave Chappelle, such as Corey Holcomb. On the Corey Holcomb  5150 show he said that Chappelle is bombing on every show and that the audience won’t boo him off the stage simple because he’s Dave Chapelle.

Whenever they say, “Hey everybody guess what! Special guest, Dave Chappelle! I be like “Aahh da**n it’s gonna be hot garbage for at least an hour, maybe two.

He then went on to make allegations on Chappelle’s sexuality and why Dave surrounds himself with gay comics and that Dave holds “comedy hostages” by leveraging his popularity.

His comments weren’t well-received and users from all over social media were quick to point out that he never brought up the point that Dave Chappelle was trying to make and just ranted on about his take on Chappelle.

Users speculate that Holcomb is trying to bait a reaction just like Williams’ interview on Club Shay Shay. Though, there is no comment from Dave’s side, one of his friends, Donnell Rawlings, were quick to defend him especially when Corey Holcomb also made a few comments on Rawlings’ material.

Rawlings vs Holcomb

Although initially, Rawlings wasn’t involved in the drama, it wasn’t until they found themselves at the Laugh Factory arguing while Halcomb was on-stage. Holcomb made some jokes about Dave Chappelle’s sexuality and Donnell Rawlings’ material for being, as he said “mild”, that prompted Rawlings to stand-up to defend himself and his friend.

To try to paint the picture of me not being funny, that’s when I just snapped… Because after 30 years, you could say I’m ashy, you could say I’m ugly, you could say a lot of things. But the thing that I hold close to my chest is that I know I’m funny.

As for Chappelle, Rawlings said,

I don’t have to come to his defense, but I do defend him… We are best friends. It’s not just that we work together, we’ve been to funerals together, we’ve been to cookouts together. So if you talk sideways, I can’t listen to it. Take that shit to somebody else, but not to me, because he’s like a brother. If you say something to my family member, then I’m gonna check you.

Their heated exchange made headlines and a few days after, Rawlings admits that he shouldn’t have yelled at Holcomb and highlights that he’s merely loyal to his friends and family. He also agrees with his friend Chappelle that he doesn’t like negativity in the industry.

Rawlings also was quick to point out that Holcomb is a victim of his own joke – his joke being that anybody who has done 3 movies or more has performed fellatio to someone important in the industry. The irony that Rawlings pointed out was that Corey Holcomb himself, has done 4 movies.

Chappelle’s Home Team

Donnell Rawlings and Dave Chappelle go way back, nearly 20 years back in fact, as before the ‘Chappelle Show’, Rawlings was more of a drama actor and not a comedian. Even he, himself, didn’t know his potential of being a comedian, and he expresses his gratitude toward Dave and Neal Brennan for giving him a platform to discover his comedic prowess.

Now, Dave Chappelle is an executive producer of Rawlings’ first Netflix special called, A New Day. Though Donnell says that he never outright asked Dave to produce his special, Dave was the one to bring the idea up to him.

Donnell shares that the special was filmed 3 times, and when Chappelle asked if they could re-shoot it, Donnell didn’t take that lightly,

The most insulting thing you could say to a comedian who thinks he just destroyed the room.

Looking back on it, he does appreciate that the special was re-filmed as he says it was worth the wait.

A New Day Released

When Rawlings’ comedy special was released on Netflix, again Corey Holcomb, chimes in by saying that his special was still “mild”.

I watched it… That’s beast mode?… The special proves it was mild.

The special itself was received with mixed reactions, some social media users agreed with Holcomb that although it was funny, it felt underwhelming while others thought the special was absolutely hilarious.

Holcomb would then clear up the assumption that he does not think that Rawlings is an awful comic, he just thinks that he’s not a “beast” in the comedy scene and questions why the special took 3 times to film, and they chose that as a final take.

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