UPDATE: Are you ready for this? Dave Chappelle's Twitter account is now officially verified, but not under the handle he previously used.
Before the real Chappelle started tweeting, an imposter had already claimed the handle @DaveChappelle, so he created his own handle, @ChappelleDavidK. Shortly after being endorsed by Aziz Ansari, Neal Brennan and more, the original, albeit fake account, @DaveChappelle, was disabled so that the real Chappelle could start using it. That left the new, now-abandoned @ChappelleDavidK open for someone to claim, which someone did, and started tweeting from it as though it was still the real Chappelle.
To make things even more confusing, the new user of @ChappelleDavidK made the page look like a clone of the real Chappelle's page, with the same pictures and tweets. Twitter allows users to change their handle and display name at will, which is why the verification system is important for celebrities.
The bottom line is that @DaveChappelle is the real deal, and @ChappelleDavidK's recent tweets (including gratuitous RT's of @WonkaMeme) are not coming from the comedian. The fake account's bio, as of today, reads "I am not Dave Chappelle (Parody)." The most recent tweet from the real Chappelle, from Sunday night, calls out the fake account:
PREVIOUSLY: Is Dave Chappelle making his comeback in 140 characters or less?
A new Twitter account claiming to be the real comedian was started on Tuesday and has since amassed over 140,000 followers despite being unverified and apparently not as funny as you'd expect.
The handle @ChappelleDavidK first tweeted, "Chinese Riddle: If a man does not tweet does he exist?" before sending another tweet clarifying that he tried to attain @DaveChappelle but it was taken by "F'n imposters." After that, he speculated about his lack of followers (as most new Tweeters do), tweeted a picture of himself on a motorcycle (although his face isn't visible) and sent his first few Twitter jokes off into the world:
Other popular figures on Twitter have brought positive attention to the account, including Judd Apatow and Questlove, with comedian Aziz Ansari tweeting, "It's him. Trust." Perhaps the biggest indicator that the account is legitimate came from fellow "Chappelle's Show" creator Neal Brennan:
Taiwanese animated news network NMA has already put together the above animation covering the story. Chappelle's last tweet at time of writing was on Thursday night and he has yet to tweet today.
We'll update this post if the account is verified or proven to be a fake. What do you think? Tell us by commenting below.