Dave Chappelle

Netflix simultaneously released Chappelle’s comedy specials “Equanimity” and “The Bird Revelation” in December of 2017. While the specials went on to win a Grammy for Best Comedy Album, they were also criticized due to their content. In “Equanimity” Chappelle vilifies the transgender community, and in “The Bird Revelation” he mocks the #MeToo movement and minimizes the sexual misconduct of powerful men, including R. Kelly, Bill Cosby, Louis C.K, and Harvey Weinstein.

In August of 2019, Chappelle’s “Sticks and Stones” comedy special premiered on Netflix and caused outrage from the LGBTQ+ community and survivors of sexual abuse. 

In the special, Chappelle jokes about each letter of “the alphabet community,” saying that bisexuals are “fucking gross,” transgender people are “confusing,” and repeatedly uses homophobic slurs, commenting that “it’s hard not to write these jokes.” Chappelle also mocks the #MeToo movement and the men who accused Michael Jackson of molesting them as children.

The night before the October 2021 release of his Netflix special, “The Closer,” Chappelle appeared at The Stand, a comedy club in NYC. According to The Interrobang, Chappelle said this comedy special would be “the one that gets him cancelled.” He went on to say in his promo, “Comedians have a responsibility to speak recklessly.  Sometimes the funniest thing to say is mean. Remember, I’m not saying it to be mean. I’m saying it because it’s funny.”

On October 5, 2021, Chappelle’s sixth Netflix special, “The Closer,” was released. In the special, Chappelle proclaims that he’s jealous of the achievements of gay rights in America: “If slaves had oil and booty shorts on, we might have been free 100 years sooner,” he jokes.

He continues, “In our country, you can shoot and kill a nigga, but you better not hurt a gay person’s feelings,” speaking in reference to rapper DaBaby. DaBaby was widely criticized after making homophobic comments during a July 2021 concert. However, he was also involved in an incident in 2018 where he shot and killed a man outside a North Carolina Walmart, but was only charged with a misdemeanor charge for carrying a concealed weapon and did not experience a negative impact on his career.

Chappelle also states, “Gay people are minorities until they need to be white again,” then goes on to tell a story of a verbal altercation with a white gay man who called the police on him.

Chappelle later jokes that he used to think “feminism” meant “frumpy dyke,” and that the #MeToo movement was “silly.” 

At one point, he compares trans women’s genitalia to plant-based meat; he also compares the existence of trans women to white people wearing blackface.

He continues, “Gender is a fact. Every human being in this room, every human being on Earth, had to pass through the legs of a woman to be on Earth. That is a fact.” He then goes on to make explicit jokes about trans women’s bodies, stating that their genitalia is “not quite what it is.”

In “The Closer,” he also voices his support of author J.K. Rowling’s tweets from 2020, saying he is “Team TERF” (Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist). “They cancelled J.K. Rowling. They started calling her a TERF. I didn’t even know what that was, but I know that trans people make up words to win arguments … I’m team TERF.” He later compared the view of some radical feminists of trans women with Black people and blackface.

He repeatedly accuses women, gay people, and transgender people of “punching [him] down” for the stories he relates on those subjects.

Chappelle says, “I don’t hate gay people, I respect the shit out of you—not all of you. I’m not fond of these newer gays—too sensitive, too brittle. I miss the old-school gays … the Stonewall gays. They didn’t take shit from anybody.”

At the end of his special, Chappelle talks about his friendship with transgender comic Daphne Dorman, who died by suicide in 2019. He said that Dorman received criticism online for defending Chappelle against transphobic allegations and for “denying [Chappelle] was punching down in [his] material.”

When discussing his jokes about LGBTQ+ topics, Chappelle says, “I’m done talking about it. All I ask of your community, with all humility: Will you please stop punching down on my people?”

The backlash from Chappelle’s special was quick, especially from the LGBTQ+ community. Actor Taylor Ashbrook spoke out on Twitter after “The Closer,” saying, "As a trans woman, I have usually defended Dave Chappelle's specials because I think they're hilarious and his jokes about trans women never felt intentionally malicious." She continued, "‘The Closer’ changed my mind on that. That special felt so lazy and disingenuous and I'm really disappointed."

The day after its Netflix release, “The Closer'' was called out by David Johns, Executive Director of the National Black Justice Coalition. As reported by Deadline, Johns demanded Netflix’s removal of the special, saying:

“It is deeply disappointing that Netflix allowed Dave Chappelle’s lazy and hostile transphobia and homophobia to air on its platform. With 2021 on track to be the deadliest year on record for transgender people in the United States — the majority of whom are Black transgender people — Netflix should know better. 

Perpetuating transphobia perpetuates violence. Netflix should immediately pull “The Closer” from its platform and directly apologize to the transgender community. Make no mistake: Black LGBTQ+ and same gender people exist – and have always existed. The fight against oppression is not a zero sum game, and the pervasiveness of white supremacy in the United States is not an excuse for homophobia or transphobia.”

GLAAD, an American media monitoring organization founded as a protest against defamatory coverage of LGBTQ+ people, said on Twitter that Chappelle’s brand “has become synonymous with ridiculing trans people and other marginalized communities. Negative reviews and viewers loudly condemning his latest special is a message to the industry that audiences don’t support platforming anti-LGBTQ diatribes. We agree.”

Executive producer and writer of “Dear White People,” Jaclyn Moore, tweeted against the anti-trans comments present in Chappelle’s special. She posted on Twitter the day after its October 2021 release, “I told the story of my transition for @netflix and @most’s Pride week. It’s a network that’s been my home on @DearWhitePeople. I’ve loved working there.” She continued, “I will not work with them as long as they continue to put out and profit from blatantly and dangerously transphobic content.”  

Commenting on her own thread, she issued her resignation. “I love so many of the people I’ve worked with at Netflix. Brilliant people and executives who have been collaborative and fought for important art… But I’ve been thrown against walls because, ‘I’m not a “real” woman.’ I’ve had beer bottles thrown at me. So, @Netflix, I’m done.”

Moore told Variety, “I would just say it’s ironic that for somebody who famously walked away from a TV show because he felt like the messages of the joke got lost, he doesn’t see what the messages of these jokes do to people.”  

She went on to point out real-world consequences that could result from what Chappelle says in his special and Netflix’s participation in its production and release:

“He talks about our feelings being hurt. My feelings are fine, but being thrown against a wall hurts or worrying at night if I can get home safe. That stuff is not theoretical. I’m really tired of my existence being a matter of debate, that this is something that we all just get to have an opinion about. We all get to have an opinion whether or not I am what I say I am. 

Look, I have no desire to cancel Dave Chappelle. He should make whatever he wants to make but I will say to Netflix, it’s not like this was a live special. They saw this and were like, ‘Yeah this seems okay to put out there.’ The truth is it’s not. It’s dangerous and it has real world physical violence repercussions. People like to say, ‘Oh, it’s just a joke.’ I get the joke. By the way there’s a lot that’s funny about being trans, but the idea that it’s funny that we call ourselves women, which was the subtext of a lot of those jokes, is not one of them. It’s actually the same language used by people who seek to hurt us.”

“Chappelle was one of my heroes,” Moore continued. “But he said he’s a TERF. He compared my existence to someone doing blackface. He talks about someone winning a Woman of the Year award despite never having a period should make women mad and that it makes him mad. And then he ended his special with a ‘but I had a trans friend’ story. He says we don’t listen. But he’s not listening. Those words have real world consequences … that every trans woman I know has dealt with … I can’t be a part of a company that thinks that’s worth putting out and celebrating.”

Moore later appeared on the ABC news program “GMA3” to talk about the boycotting of Netflix and the anti-trans content in “The Closer.” 

Terra Field, a trans woman and Netflix employee in San Francisco, responded to “The Closer” the day following its October 2021 release, tweeting, “I work at @netflix. Yesterday we launched another Chappelle special where he attacks the trans community, and the very validity of transness - all while trying to pit us against other marginalized groups. You’re going to hear a lot of talk about ‘offense’.” She continued, “We are not offended.”  

She then posted 47 tweets in a thread calling out Chappelle’s special and pointing out the harm that the trans community has experienced. “Being trans is actually pretty funny, if you’re someone who actually knows about the subject matter. How could volunteering for a second puberty *not* be funny? That isn’t what he’s doing though. Our existence is ‘funny’ to him - and when we object to his harm, we’re ‘offended’. / The problem is that people are responding to something we never said. We aren’t complaining about ‘being offended’ and we don’t have ‘thin skin’. You try going to a pharmacy and having them call you ‘sir’ in front of everyone while you pick up your estradiol.” 

She continued, “What we object to is the harm that content like this does to the trans community (especially trans people of color) and VERY specifically Black trans women. People who look like me aren’t being killed. I’m a white woman, I get to worry about Starbucks writing ‘Tara’ on my drink. / Promoting TERF ideology (which is what we did by giving it a platform yesterday) directly harms trans people, it is not some neutral act. This is not an argument with two sides. It is an argument with trans people who want to be alive and people who don’t want us to be.”  

She then concluded her thread with a list of 38 members of the trans community who died in 2021, saying “These are people that a callous disregard for the lives of trans people by our society have taken from us, and they deserve better. That these 38 people died for the crime of being themselves? That actually *does* offend me.”

Two Black trans women listed by Field were Dominique Jackson, shot and killed in Jackson, MI, and Fifty Bandz, shot and killed in Baton Rouge, LA.  One friend wrote on Bandz’s Facebook page, asking, “When are we as a community going to do something?”

Following the special’s release in October 2021, a Twitter user tweeted in defense of Chappelle, using a GIF of actor and writer Franchesca Ramsey. Ramsey responded in a post, “You have no idea how angry it makes me that my face is attached to this kind of bullshit. ‘Hey this is harmful’ isn’t an attempt at ‘cancellation’ nor is it possible to ‘cancel’ a very wealthy & famous man for spreading transphobic bullshit in the name of ‘comedy.’”

On October 8, 2021, activist Raquel Willis made note of Chappelle’s special on Twitter, commenting that “Chappelle reveals the ignorant tensions in the Black community about queerness and transness but doesn’t have the range to turn them on their head. In fact, he underscores the bigoted status quo.”  

She posted,, “It’s convenient for Black cishet male comedians to talk about LGBTQ+ folks as if our group is only or even predominantly white. With that frame, they don’t have to contend with how Black cishet folks often enact (physical and psychological) violence on Black LGBTQ+ folks.”  

Willis then added, “With that frame, Chappelle and other Black cishet men don’t have to acknowledge that their hate of trans and queer people is more than ‘just jokes.’ It regularly becomes beating ‘the queer’ out of young people, shunning us, and even killing us.”

Her thread continued, “Dave Chappelle represents a segment of society (along with white supremacists, hoteps, incels, and others) that is anxious about the waning power of cisheteronormativity and the patriarchy.”

She went on to say, “Chappelle could have laid bare his insecurities with his gender and sexuality. We know so many Black cishet men are scrambling to understand their place in a cultural context where queer and trans people have microphones and platforms too. / Take, for instance, the DaBaby, Boosie, and Lil Nas X debacle. The tirades against queer and trans people being visible are really about their fear that their toxic and limited views on masculinity are losing their footing.”

Toward the end of Willis’ thread, she said, “It’s sad to witness Chappelle’s decline. He was once someone we could count on to punch up against white supremacy, but in a time where damn near everyone is ‘woke on race,’ it seems punching down on the trans community is his shock tactic.” She continued, “And for all the folks caping for Dave’s narrative about his ‘trans friend,’ do you consider the trans people who will be harassed and experience violence because he told millions of people to not take our experiences and voices seriously? / Dave’s using his trans friend’s story is hardly any different than white people using their token Black friends as ammo to shoot down their racism. And the ‘trans on trans’ harassment narrative plays out like the “Black on Black” crime narrative. Dave just skirts accountability.”

Ted Sarandos, co-CEO of Netflix, issued an internal memo in response to the controversy following “The Closer,” as reported by Variety. He defended Chappelle’s “artistic freedom” and said Netflix had no plans to remove the special from the streaming service. “Several of you have also asked where we draw the line on hate. We don’t allow titles on Netflix that are designed to incite hate or violence, and we don’t believe ‘The Closer’ crosses that line.”

The full memo reads as follows:

I wanted to follow-up on the “The Closer” — Dave Chappelle’s latest special — as several of you have reached out following [quarterly business review] asking what to say to your teams. It never feels good when people are hurting, especially our colleagues, so I wanted to give you some additional context. You should also be aware that some talent may join third parties in asking us to remove the show in the coming days, which we are not going to do.

Chappelle is one of the most popular stand-up comedians today, and we have a long standing deal with him. His last special “Sticks & Stones,” also controversial, is our most watched, stickiest and most award winning stand-up special to date. As with our other talent, we work hard to support their creative freedom – even though this means there will always be content on Netflix some people believe is harmful, like “Cuties,” “365 Days,” “13 Reasons Why” or “My Unorthodox Life.”

Several of you have also asked where we draw the line on hate. We don’t allow titles on Netflix that are designed to incite hate or violence, and we don’t believe “The Closer” crosses that line. I recognize, however, that distinguishing between commentary and harm is hard, especially with stand-up comedy which exists to push boundaries. Some people find the art of stand-up to be mean-spirited but our members enjoy it, and it’s an important part of our content offering.

In terms of our commitment to inclusion, we’re working hard to ensure more people see their lives reflected on screen and that under-represented communities are not defined by the singe story. So we’re proud of titles like “Sex Education,” “Young Royals,” “Control Z” and “Disclosure.” Externally, particularly in stand-up comedy, artistic freedom is obviously a very different standard of speech than we allow internally as the goals are different: entertaining people versus maintaining a respectful, productive workplace.

Today’s conversation on Entertain the World was timely. These are hard and uncomfortable issues. We all bring different values and perspectives so thank you for being part of the conversation as it’s important we’re clear about our operating principals [sic].

Ted

On October 14, 2021, Hannah Gadsby, a queer comic from Australia, posted to Instagram in response to an internal memo from Sarandos, where he said, “We are working hard to ensure marginalized communities aren’t defined by a single story. So we have “Sex Education,” “Orange is the New Black,” “Control Z,” Hannah Gadsby and Dave Chappelle all on Netflix. Key to this is increasing diversity on the content team itself.”

Gadsby’s post read, “Hey Ted Sarandos! Just a quick note to let you know that I would prefer if you didn’t drag my name into your mess. Now I have to deal with even more of the hate and anger that Dave Chappelle’s fans like to unleash on me every time Dave gets 20 million dollars to process his emotionally stunted partial world view. You didn’t pay me nearly enough to deal with the real world consequences of the hate speech dog whistling you refuse to acknowledge, Ted. Fuck you and your amoral algorithm cult … I do shits with more back bone than you. That’s just a joke! I definitely didn’t cross a line because you just told the world there isn’t one. #transisbeautiful #comedyisdead #ikilledit”

B. Pagels-Minor (they/them), a leader of Netflix’s Black@ and Trans* employee resource groups, was fired in October 2021 following accusations that they shared “confidential, commercially sensitive information outside the company” about “The Closer” to the press, as reported by the Verge. During an interview with NPR, Pagels-Minor denied leaking the information to Bloomberg but did admit to sharing that data with co-workers in an internal memo.  

They said, “This is not about taking down content. This is actually about expanding the strategy, making it more nimble and putting out more parity in content that could tell more stories that people would be interested in. ...My hope was to create a really robust internal memo that really outlined clearly that there was economic value in diversifying content and specifically investing in trans content.” Pagels-Minor continued, “The greater point is, this is not to curb creative freedom, or to censor people. This is about widening the discussion to tell the complete story of other groups (who are) being unduly hurt by this type of content.”

A petition to remove “The Closer'' from Netflix was started on Change.org in October 2021. The petition says, “Dave Chappelle has a long history of making ‘jokes’ at the expense of the LGBTQ community. In his new special ‘The Closer’ he makes a number of degrading jokes aimed at the transgender commmunity. By providing a platform to Dave Chappelle and his transphobic ‘jokes’, Netflix is perpetuating violence and hostility towards transgender people.” It ends with, “We call on Netflix to remove the comedy special and commit to ensure that homophobic, biphobic and transphobic material is not included within your catalogue of films and TV in the future.” As of November 2021, the petition had received over 12,600 signatures.

Addressing the fallout from “The Closer,” Sarandos issued an apology after his internal memo was leaked and met with criticism from employees, viewers, and comedians like Hannah Gadsby, who was named in the memo. 

He said in a Q&A with Variety, “Obviously, I screwed up that internal communication. I did that, and I screwed it up in two ways. First and foremost, I should have led with a lot more humanity. Meaning, I had a group of employees who were definitely feeling pain and hurt from a decision we made. And I think that needs to be acknowledged up front before you get into the nuts and bolts of anything. I didn’t do that. That was uncharacteristic for me, and it was moving fast and we were trying to answer some really specific questions that were floating. We landed with some things that were much more blanket and matter-of-fact that are not at all accurate.”

He went on to say, “Of course storytelling has real impact in the real world. I reiterate that because it’s why I work here, it’s why we do what we do. That impact can be hugely positive, and it can be quite negative. So, I would have been better in that communication. They were joining a conversation already in progress, but out of context. But that happens, internal emails go out. In all my communications I should lean into the humanity up front and not make a blanket statement that could land very differently than it was intended.”

On October 20, Netflix employees staged a walkout in protest of Netflix‘s refusal to recognise the impact of homophobic and transphobic content. Trans actor Elliot Page posted his support on Instagram, stating, “#NetflixWalkout I stand with trans, nonbinary, and BIPOC employees at Netflix fighting for more and better trans stories and a more inclusive workplace.” The post includes a video showing a message of love and support for the movement.

In a video interview with TMZ, comedian and political commentator Jon Stewart showed his support for Chappelle, saying, “I know his intention is never hurtful. Like, he’s just not that kinda person. He’s really, he’s a good man.”

In an episode of “Real Time with Bill Maher,” host Bill Maher defended Chappelle’s special, along with former presidential and New York mayoral candidate Andrew Yang and New York Times opinion writer John McWhorter.  

Maher said, “I’m a free speech guy. Now, I'm team Dave, but that doesn't mean I'm anti-trans.  … Words have meaning ...‘Phobic’ has a meaning: fear. I'm not transphobic if I merely disagree with you. It's not hate. I mean, here's what one of the reactions from someone who worked at Netflix said, 'This is not an argument with two sides.’”

Maher continued, "Well, right away, you lost me. 'It is an argument with trans people who want to be alive and people who don't want us to be.' Well, that's just ridiculous. Dave Chappelle does not want you to not be alive." 

Following the considerable amount of backlash from critics, Chappelle took to Instagram to defend “The Closer.”  In his October 25, 2021 post filmed at an arena, Chappelle said, “To the transgender community, I am more than willing to give you an audience, but you will not summon me. I am not bending to anyone’s demands. And if you want to meet with me, I am more than willing to, but I have some conditions. First of all, you cannot come if you have not watched my special from beginning to end. You must come to a place of my choosing at a time of my choosing, and thirdly, you must admit that Hannah Gadsby is not funny.” 

After saying his “Untitled” documentary was affected by the backlash and had been disinvited from film festivals and studios, Chappelle said, “Today, not a film company, not a movie studio, not a film festival, nobody will touch this film. Thank God for Ted Sarandos and Netflix; he’s the only one that didn’t cancel me yet.”  

At the end of the video, he yelled, “You have to answer the question: am I cancelled or not? Then let’s go!” 

In a Twitter post on October 26, 2021, former Olympian, reality star, and defeated California gubernatorial candidate, Caitlyn Jenner offered her support to Chappelle. Jenner, who is trans, said, “Dave Chappelle is 100% right. This isn’t about the LGBTQ movement. It’s about woke cancel culture run amok, trying to silence free speech. We must never yield or bow to those who wish to stop us from speaking our minds.”

Jenner’s tweet included the video that Chappelle uploaded to his Instagram the day before. In the video, Chappelle says, “I want everyone in this audience to know that even though the media frames it that it’s me versus that community, that is not what it is. Do not blame the LBGTQ community for any of this shit. This has nothing to do with them. It’s about corporate interests and what I can say and what I cannot say. For the record, and I need you to know this, everyone I know from that community has been loving and supporting, so I don’t know what all this nonsense is about.”

At a sold-out New Orleans show co-headlining Chappelle and Joe Rogan on October 28, 2021, Chappelle said, “In the middle of me being cancelled, we broke the attendance record.” As reported by Nola.com, he said that the controversy over “The Closer” gave him “the worst three weeks of my life.” Chappelle later went on to say, when offered a cup of beer from an audience member, that it might be spiked with “transgender formula.” When jokes of the New Orleans Saints football team’s losses were met with boos from the crowd, Chappelle said, “Don’t go all trans on me.”

On November 23, 2021, Chappelle made a surprise visit to his former high school, the Duke Ellington School of the Arts. During a Q&A session discussing the controversy around “The Closer,” one student said to Chapelle "I'm 16 and I think you're childish, you handled it like a child," before calling Chappelle a "bigot."

Chappelle replied, "My friend, with all due respect, I don't believe you could make one of the decisions I have to make on a given day."

He said to another student: "I'm better than every instrumentalist, artist, no matter what art you do in this school, right now, I'm better than all of you. I'm sure that will change. I'm sure you'll be household names soon."

Another student told Chappelle that his comedy "kills," to which Chappelle replied, "Niggas are killed every day," then asked, "The media's not here, right?"