Report: Dave Chappelle checks into a mental health facility
NEW YORK (AP) — Comedy Central star Dave Chappelle has checked himself into a mental health facility in South Africa, the magazine Entertainment Weekly reported on Wednesday.
"It isn't a case of him spending a weekend someplace recuperating from exhaustion," an EW editor says of Chappelle's problems.
Showtime
The comedian's whereabouts and condition have been unknown since Comedy Central abruptly announced last week that the planned May 31 launch of the third season of Chappelle's Show had been postponed and production halted.
Chappelle flew from Newark, N.J., to South Africa on April 28 for treatment, said the magazine, quoting a source close to the show it would not identify. Entertainment Weekly said it had corroborating sources for its story.
"We don't know where he is," Comedy Central spokesman Tony Fox said. "We've heard about South Africa. We don't know. We haven't talked to Dave."
Chappelle's spokesman, Matt Labov, would not comment on the magazine's story.
"It seems like the issues he's contending with are really quite serious," said Dade Hayes, a senior editor at Entertainment Weekly. "It isn't a case of him spending a weekend someplace recuperating from exhaustion."
The magazine's sources say Chappelle is still in the facility, which was not named, Hayes said. Chappelle's representatives have denied that the comedian was abusing drugs.
Chappelle reportedly signed a $50 million deal with Comedy Central for two more seasons of his show, a payday made possible because of the explosive sales of the show's first season DVD.
The magazine said Chappelle had shot four to five episodes' worth of sketches for the new season, but none of its onstage introductions.
'Show' Won't Go On
EW Exclusive: Chappelle in psych hospital -- With its star hospitalized in South Africa, ''Chappelle's Show'' is unlikely to return to Comedy Central for a third season by Josh Wolk
LAUGH OFF ''Chappelle's Show'' is unlikely to return
Comedian Dave Chappelle has checked himself into a mental health facility in South Africa and has remained there since late April, according to a source close to the situation. The same source denies rumors of drug abuse. Other sources have also told EW that the future of Chappelle's Show — the hit Comedy Central series that was entering its third season — is more uncertain than the network has suggested.
Comedy Central last week made a hasty announcement that the show's third season, already delayed from its planned February start, had been postponed again. The network said it remained ''optimistic'' that production could resume. The highly rated sketch series has been a huge moneymaker for Viacom, which owns Comedy Central. Its second season is about to be released on DVD, on the heels of first-season sales that made it the top-selling television DVD in history.
Thanks in large part to the DVD sales, Chappelle last year netted a $50 million deal for co-writing and starring in the show. Sketches to fill about four episodes in the third season have been taped, but Chappelle's interstitial material with live audiences has not. The fate of the sketches has not been determined.
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