Dave Chappelle’s meteoric rise to fame was capped off with a $50 million contract last April… Dave Chappelle’s meteoric rise to fame was capped off with a $50 million contract last April for a third season of “Chappelle’s Show.” Unfortunately, this third season never happened, and reports attempting to explain this disappearance have theories ranging from drugs to mental disorders and even elaborate conspiracies.

Some claim that Dave fell victim to societal pressures while others insist it was creative differences between him and Comedy Central. Whatever the case, with new commercials hinting at the return of “Chappelle’s Show,” or at least the unveiling of what he had finished before his disappearance, anticipation is once again at an all-time high as the public awaits a new season of sketch comedy.

An avid fan of the show myself, I did some research as to why anyone would walk away from such a lucrative contract and I present to you now, as outlandish as some of these findings are, my results.

Newsweek ran an article in May claiming that Chappelle’s exit was in fact a combination of both “pressure, partying and power struggles.” One interviewee stated, “He wasn’t prepared. I saw him start trippin’ when the buzz started to get real loud.” One celebrity friend said, “I think he was in shock after the first season, and then [during] the second, it hit him that he was the man. That freaked him. And then came the pressure of living up to expectations for the third season. He’s never been there – where something’s so good and you got to come even stronger the next time. It was too much.”

Later that month, Entertainment Weekly reported that Chappelle’s disappearance was because of a mental breakdown and he was recuperating in Africa, receiving treatment at a mental hospital.

But it doesn’t stop there, Pittsburgh. Other accounts of Chappelle’s demise continued to come and by December, probably the most outlandish depiction of extortion and blackmail I’ve ever read crossed my path.

At first it was just a rumor I heard on the radio, but as it progressed into a rumor that I actually read on the Internet – the author claims to be a retired public relations executive who wishes to remain anonymous – I had to give the theory a little more consideration. This last conspiracy theory provided by www.chappelletheory.com explains the shows demise.

Apparently some of the most influential and prominent blacks in entertainment and politics had found offense with Chappelle’s show. Oprah, Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Bill Cosby and Louis Farrakhan, to name a few, are all mentioned as being a part of “the Dark Crusaders” as chronicled in the article.

According to this site, in April 2003, during the first season of “Chappelle’s Show,” Dave began receiving anonymous threats. One of the threats documented was a package left in Dave’s dressing room after a taping that included pictures of Malcolm X, The Notorious B.I.G., Tupac and Chappelle himself, with the words “YOU’RE NEXT” etched across the photo.

Another package included photos of Chappelle’s children sleeping with a large man who very closely resembled Al Sharpton standing next to the beds. Perhaps the most outlandish of the threats is a claim chronicling an incident during the night while Chappelle and his wife slept in bed. “I was in bed, next to my wife when I got woken up by a heavy pressure on my chest. I opened my eyes to find one of the three men – that appeared in my bathroom days before – perched on top of my stomach wielding a colt .45 handgun with an enormous silencer. The other two men were holding me down.

It seemed like my wife had been drugged, as she lay motionless breathing next to me. Oprah Winfrey leaned forward and whispered in my ear ‘You better watch your step – we’re representing interests more powerful than you can imagine. You do remember Farrakhan killed Malcolm, and that Cosby, Johnson (Robert Johnson, owner of BET), and I have more money than God – we can keep this harassment up forever, is this what you want your life to be like Dave?'”

Where in the world is Dave Chapelle? The theories are in your hands and I leave the decision up to you. However, regardless of which one of these accounts is more accurate, let us all rejoice in the return, if only for four episodes, of “Chappelle’s Show.”

Brandon will be sleeping with one eye open from now on. E-mail Brandon your paranoia stories at [email protected].