Chappelle's Blacklist

Rampant rumours of mental breakdown and drug addiction greeted the announcement that comedy superstar Dave Chappelle would not complete the third season of his massive TV show. But those with a conspiratorial mind have a new reason to chew on: that a "secret cabal" of powerful African-Americans (including Oprah, Whoopi, Cosby, Farrakhan and Al Sharpton) pressured him to quit (found on www.chappelletheory.com). It's an entertaining load of hooey that seems more designed to sell T-shirts than enlighten, but for the paranoid, it has that ring of... well, not truth exactly. Anonymously penned by a retired PR exec, it chronicles an outrageous campaign of intimidation that includes voodoo dolls, declined credit cards and the ghostly spectre of Sharpton in Dave's kids' bedroom, all part of the so-called Dark Crusaders' attempt to halt the influence of crackhead Tyrone Biggums. An entertaining read, but buying a shirt will only encourage them.