Chappelle On Trans Outrage Over Netflix Special: I'm Not 'Bending to Anybody's Demands'

Nick Kangadis | October 26, 2021
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It’s said that the best way to deal with a bully is to bully them back. Another method that seems to work well against bullies like the “woke” social media mobs and the Alphabet mafia is simply to stand your ground, because those groups firmly believe that no one would dare stand up to them. Well, add stand-up comedy legend Dave Chappelle to those who stand their ground in the face of a very vocal minority.

In response to the blowback he received from his latest Netflix special, “The Closer,” and the organized “trans” walkout by a few Netflix employees — who were really just demanding more money instead of their usual feigning of outrage — Chappelle posted a video response to his Instagram account that was taken over the weekend at a show he did.

Chappelle, as usual, pulled no punches and said that while he is willing to meet with those who are allegedly outraged over his comedy, he’s not “bending to anybody’s demands.” 

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 anybody’s demands. And if you want to meet with me, I’d be 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.

Earlier in the clip, the 48-year-old comedian indicated that he has already been cancelled as a result of the establishment media’s framing of what he said in “The Closer,” while also claiming that “everyone” he knows “from that [trans] community” has had his back through all of this manufactured controversy.

His words in response are important to note, because it comes from a place of honesty:

It’s been said in the press that I was invited to speak to the transgender employees of Netflix and I refused. That is not true — if they had invited me I would have accepted it, although I am confused about what we would be speaking about. I said what I said, and boy, I heard what you said. My God, how could I not? You said you want a safe working environment at Netflix. It seems like I’m the only one that can’t go to the office anymore.

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[…]

This film that I made was invited to every film festival in the United States and some of those invitations I accepted. And when this controversy came out about ‘The Closer,’ they began disinviting me from these film festivals. And now, 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.

So, in light of what Chappelle said, it could be said that the outrage lynch mob was, at the very least, successful in negatively affecting a legend’s career.

For video of Chappelle’s full comments, watch below:

 

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