FILE – In this July 18, 2015 file photo, comedian Dave Chappelle speaks at the RUSH Philanthropic Arts Foundation’s Art for Life Benefit in New York. “Saturday Night Live” called on host Chappelle’s wit for a thoughtful coda to a divisive presidential campaign. Chappelle offered an African-American take onPresident-elect, Donald Trump’s victory over Hillary Clinton, saying he hadn’t seen white people so mad since the O.J. Simpson verdict. (Photo by Scott Roth/Invision/AP, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — What started as a fun throwaway line at the Emmy Awards has turned into an unexpected flood of attention for the Washington DC public school system.
Comedian Dave Chappelle, a DC native and graduate of the District’s Duke Ellington School of the Arts, issued a “Shout out to DC public schools” before he started reading the teleprompter to give out an award.
But the issue turned into a genuine internet phenomenon when comedian John Oliver jumped into the fray. The Last Week Tonight host encouraged viewers to stick the hashtag #DCPublicSchools onto all Emmy related tweets, saying, “It would be great if it started trending on Twitter for no reason whatsoever.”
That’s exactly what happened.
The public school system responded on Twitter with a string of smiley face emojis.
