Only days after the release of Netflix's latest collaboration with comedian and actor Dave Chappelle, the internet has been flooded with calls to pull the hour-long show amid others defending the comedian's controversial jokes.
While this is not the first time that Dave Chappelle clashes with members of the LGBTQ+ community over jokes he has made in his stand-up comedy gigs, including his 2019 Sticks and Stones, the internet has witnessed strong reactions to his latest show.
The transphobic comments in Dave Chappelle's latest Netflix special are absolutely abhorrent. It's disgusting it's given such a platform. https://t.co/gxaI1xFcVW
— chris evans (@chris_notcapn) October 5, 2021
Dave Chapelle cancels cancel culture by exposing the white supremacist agenda that hides behind the LGBTQ community in his new stand up “The Closer”. pic.twitter.com/8c2D30g1pD
— Mike Baggz (@MikeBaggz) October 8, 2021
In his 2021 The Closer, Chappelle started his hour and 12 minutes of comedy on stage addressing the previous backlash caused by his previous show, saying that members of the LGBTQ+ who attack him "insist on misinterpreting his words," saying that he was pointing out the difference between being black in America vs being an LGBTQ, referring to examples of black people he said he knows "in Brooklyn who wear high heels to feel safe."
"You never asked yourself why it was easier for Bruce Jenner to change his gender than it was for Cassius Clay to change his name?" --Dave Chappell on white privilege.
— Doug Judy's Velvet Blazer (@PapiEsq76) December 31, 2017
The comedian also compared the gender transition of Bruce Jenner into Caitlyn in 2015, suggesting that white privilege is the reason it was easier than Cassius Clay's attempts to change his name to Muhammad Ali.
Dress however you please.
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) December 19, 2019
Call yourself whatever you like.
Sleep with any consenting adult who’ll have you.
Live your best life in peace and security.
But force women out of their jobs for stating that sex is real? #IStandWithMaya #ThisIsNotADrill
The comedian also defended the author of Harry Potter J. K. Rowling, after the 2019 backlash she triggered after defending Maya Forstater after a tweet that was perceived as transphobic.
LGBT people who think dave chappelle is "not transphobic," that "he was just kidding": just because YOU are okay with it doesn't mean that just like that, he's not transphobic. You being "fine" with it all doesn't mean the rest of us have to. His "jokes" are what gets us KILLED.
— Vanessa Clark (@FoxxyGlamKitty) October 7, 2021
As soon as the show was released, many members of the LGBTQ+ community in addition to workers at Netflix called on the streaming platform to pull the show, including the National Black Justice Coalition that did not receive his comments positively.
Yet, Chapelle received support from two sisters of the late transgender comedian Daphne Dorman who said he was a close friend to their sister and "meant the world to her," saying they "they were outraged at the suggestion that Chappelle’s set was transphobic or derogatory toward the LGBTQ community."
