Dave Chappelle’s new Netflix particular isn’t ‘anti-LGBT’ or ‘transphobic’ — it’s hilarious and shifting
In his new special, The Closer, comedian Dave Chappelle jokes everyone from Jews to Mike Pence to Martin Luther King Jr. to himself. But he also had the audacity to poke fun at the gay and transgender community to make, and for this Chappelle has (once again!) earned the wrath of intolerant wokescolds.
A transgender activist and showrunner for the Netflix show Dear White People, Jaclyn Moore, slammed Chappelle and said she would boycott Netflix as long as the company “continues to benefit from obviously and dangerously transphobic content”. Meanwhile, the left-wing activist organization GLAAD condemned Chappelle for “mocking trans people and other marginalized communities” and called for his deplatformation. In a sadly typical hit for the liberal media coverage of the special, NPR published an article accusing the black Chappelle of “using white privilege to excuse his own homophobia and transphobia”. (The NPR article also misquoted Chappelle and had to make a correction.)
I shared the story of my transition for @netflix and @ most’s Pride Week. It’s a network that was my home on @DearWhitePeople. I loved working there.
I will not work with them as long as they post and benefit from overtly and dangerously transphobic content.
– Jaclyn Moore (@JaclynPMoore) October 7, 2021
Dave Chappelle’s brand has become synonymous with ridiculing trans people and other marginalized communities. Negative reviews and viewers loudly condemning his latest special are a message to the industry that audiences do not support the spread of anti-LGBTQ diatribes. Do we agree? https://t.co/yOIyT54819
– GLAAD (@glaad) October 6, 2021
In his new Netflix special, Dave Chappelle tries – and often fails – to justify push-button jokes about gays, transsexuals and feminists, writes NPR critic Eric Deggans.https: //t.co/gG1zFMv2eM
– NPR (@NPR) October 6, 2021
All of these critics need to get a grip. After seeing the insane backlash, I sat down and actually watched the special on Netflix. It’s not hateful; it’s comedy – and good comedy at that. Furthermore, the ultimate message is actually empathy.
Yes, Chappelle is joking at the expense of the gay and transgender community, both in terms of gay rights and the transgender community. He pokes fun at the newfound status that allegedly oppressed gays now have in the culture, and ironically laments the story of a black rapper who was recently “canceled” for anti-gay comments and who, says Chappelle, “shot once” [N-word] and killed him at Walmart, ”but that didn’t hurt his career.
The comedian jokes that rapper DaBaby “slammed the LGBTQ community straight into AIDS”. But Chappelle continues that DaBaby made “an egregious mistake”. He only deplores the fact that “in our country you can shoot and kill” [N-word] … but you shouldn’t hurt the feelings of a gay person! “
As a gay person, I don’t find that offensive. It’s funny! Plus, Chappelle makes fun of the gay community as he makes fun of pretty much every other group during the special.
“You mix up the emotions,” says Chappelle to his critics. “You think I hate gays … what you really see is that I’m jealous of gays. We blacks look at the gay community and say, ‘Damn it, look how well this movement is going. We have been trapped in this predicament for hundreds of years. … How the hell are you making such progress? ‘ I can’t help but believe that if slaves had body oil and booty shorts, we might be free 100 years sooner. “
This last line, which made me cackle audibly in real time, particularly stirred up left-wing critics online. But ironically, these bright reactionaries who can’t take jokes are actually proving Chappelle’s point of view.
“I don’t hate gays at all. … I respect the shit of you – well, not all of you, ”he says later in the special. “I don’t really like these newer gays. Too sensitive, too brittle. These are not the gays I grew up with. … I miss these old school gays, this stonewall [N-words]. They are the ones I respect. They fought for their freedom. “
On this front, Chappelle is absolutely spot on. A generation of older gays experienced real oppression, fought for their rights, endured pseudoscientific anti-gay talk therapy, and more. Too many gays today, at least those who are overrepresented on Twitter and in the media, think they are victims when a comedian makes a joke at their expense. Give me a break.
The comedian goes on to tell how a white gay man called the police during a verbal confrontation. “Gays are minorities until they have to be white again,” he rips off.
For this and other comments, in fact, Chappelle has been accused of overlooking the existence of blacks and gay minorities. But that review is obviously coming from people who haven’t actually seen the special. The comedian goes on almost immediately throughout the story that “a black gay man would never have done that”.
The most controversial part of The Closer, of course, is when Chappelle roasts the transgender community again. And this part of his routine is admittedly outrageous. He jokingly compares the surgically altered genitals of transgender women who are born biologically male with “Impossible P ****”, which refers to the synthetic, vegetarian Impossible burger. He is also defending author JK Rowling, who has come under fire for her allegedly “transphobic” public questioning of the transgender movement on women’s rights issues.
Are these jokes cross-border and shocking? Yes sir. But that’s the point, and these are no more than his jokes about others (including blacks and himself!). It seems to me that if gays and transgender people really believe in equality, they should want to be treated the same way comedians treat any other group of people, and not enjoy special, condescending protection, as if we are more mentally fragile than anyone else.
The real salvation of Chappelle’s routine is that it doesn’t ultimately come from a place of hate or malice. He tells a moving story about a transgender comedian he became friends with, Daphne, who laughed at all of his gay and transgender jokes. He even gave her, an amateur, the opportunity to open for a large event that he was hosting in San Francisco. Chappelle lovingly relates how they bonded through their mutual love for comedy and how all she ever asked him to respect their humanity was.
“Just think I’m human and I’m going through this,” she told him.
“I believe you because it takes you to know you,” he said back.
It’s getting dark here. Chappelle recounts how Daphne stood up for him following the release of his controversial Sticks & Stones special in 2019 when he was widely attacked for being “transphobic”. But the transgender community turned on them and viciously harassed them online. She killed herself a week later.
Chappelle immediately jokes about her suicide. Yes, seriously. But then he realizes that Daphne would have loved the joke and explains that after her death he set up a trust fund for her daughter.
With this dark note, Chappelle hits the real message of his special. The point is that we have to give up our hypocrisy and instead speak honestly about our differences. More than anything, we need to embrace outrage, break in culture, and self-sacrifice.
“Empathy isn’t gay,” says Chappelle. “Empathy is not black. Empathy is bisexual – it has to go both ways. “
Does all of this make Dave Chappelle a “transphobe” or a “fanatic”? Only if you define these words to the point of meaninglessness, so loosely that you include anyone who questions, contradicts or makes fun of the constantly evolving dogma of the awakened left. Bigotry, correctly understood, is not about what jokes you make; It’s about where you are from and whether you have hatred in your heart. And certainly not Chappelle.
Yes, The Closer is desperate at the stifling impact of political correctness on our culture, and in it Chappelle mercilessly mocks many groups of people. But its ultimate message is not bigotry; it’s one of empathy for those who see the world differently, and that’s exactly what the self-righteous critics of Dave Chappelle lack.
Brad Polumbo (@Brad_Polumbo) is a libertarian-conservative journalist and writer for the Washington Examiner. Subscribe to his YouTube channel or email him at bradpolumbojournalism@gmail.com.
