A friend recently invited me to a Dave Chappelle performance in Yellow Springs, about an hour north of Cincinnati. I passed. I didn’t know what his routine would be, but I knew what I didn’t want to hear.

Chappelle is a masterful storyteller and one of the most talented comedians of our time. But his comedy increasingly leaves me uneasy − not because it’s edgy, but because it too often reinforces the very prejudices it claims to poke fun at.

I first felt this discomfort when Chappelle made a name for himself joking about Black people........

© USA TODAY