Dave Chappelle, Black Star & Donnell Rawlings ‘Drink Champs’ Episode On Hold

Black Star, Dave Chappelle and Donnell Rawlings were set to appear on podcast Drink Champs last month, but the episode is now on hold.

Drink Champs made its way from Miami to Yellow Springs, but the episode is now on hold. In late-May Dave Chappelle, Black Star and Donnell Rawlings were set to guest star in a prerecorded episode of the podcast in Chappelle’s home state of Ohio. Black Star and Chappelle have co-hosted podcast The Midnight Miracle in Yellow Springs since 2021, while Rawlings has lived and performed in the small Ohio town since Chappelle began his “Summer Camp” shows in 2020.

“NEW @DrinkChamps episode with @BlackStarKeepShining is on the way! Special guest & comedy legends @DaveChappelle & @DonnellRawlings took things to another level,” N.O.R.E. previously teased in an Instagram post.

Now, according to Page Six, the recent massacres in Uvalde and Buffalo have led to Chappelle and his team putting the Drink Champs episode on ice. Last week, Juelz Santana guest-starred on the podcast.

“It came time to run it, and it was right after [mass shootings] in Buffalo and Texas,” a source told Page Six. “[Chappelle and his team] just thought it was ill-timed. … They wanted to approve the timing of it and thought, ‘Hold off, slow down. It’s tone-deaf to release something at this time.’”

With the episode being pulled, there’s talks of Chappelle re-recording his segment at a later time or airing the recorded episode at a later date.

“They were to supposed to interview Black Star about their new album, and Dave wanted to pop in and shout out Black Star, which he did,” a source explained to Page Six.

Black Star released their long-awaited Madlib-produced sophomore album No Fear of Time earlier this month on podcast service Luminary.

In the 150th episode of his podcast People’s Party, Kweli spoke about Black Star holding impromptu recording sessions for their new album.

“I’d be like ‘Yo, you wanna set up the mic? A couple of those songs [from No Fear of Time] were recorded at Dave Chappelle shows, in garages, and on tours around Europe.”

This story was updated on Monday, June 13.