Dave Chappelle said he's 'not bluffing' as he threatens to pull investments from the city if an affordable housing development is built


Chappelle in "The Closer."Netflix

Residents of an Ohio town, including comedian Dave Chappelle, spoke out against an affordable housing development.

Chappelle said if the development includes affordable housing, he'd pull his investments.

The council voted against including affordable housing in the development.

Residents of a small town in Ohio — including comedian Dave Chappelle — expressed concerns at a Monday night council meeting over plans to build an affordable housing development, local news outlet Dayton Daily News reported.

The Yellow Springs Village Council voted 2-2 — one member did not vote — against it, but the 53-acre development will still be built without the affordable housing component, which would have included duplexes, according to local newspaper Yellow Springs News.

The council previously approved the development to include 143 single-family homes starting at $300,000 each.

Chappelle, who currently lives in the area and frequented there as a child, threatened to remove all of his business investments from the area should the affordable housing development be built.

"I cannot believe you would make me audition for you," Chappelle said as he took to the mic, referencing Oberer Homes, with which the council planned to build the development. "You look like clowns."

"I am not bluffing," Chappelle continued during the council meeting. "I will take it all off the table."

Matthew Kirk, one resident who also disagreed with the development, said it would be better to do two separate developments — one with condos and the other single-family homes.

"I think it's important to kind of understand the framing and also understand how those products attract different homebuyers," Kirk added, per the Dayton Daily News report.

This is not Chappelle's first time going against the affordable housing development.

"I just want to say I am adamantly opposed to it," Chappelle said at a December 2021 council meeting. "I have invested millions of dollars in town. If you push this thing through, what I'm investing in is no longer applicable."

Chappelle has plans to build a restaurant called "Firehouse Eatery" and a comedy club called "Live from YS" in the area.

Representatives for Chappelle, Oberer Homes, and the Yellow Springs Village Council did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

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