Dave Chappelle continues to use the Netflix controversy and the transgender community as a turning point.
The comedian commented on the trans person in his special Closer triggered a backlash earlier this month – and far from over. On Thursday night’s standup show in New Orleans, which he co-hosted with fellow pot mixer Joe Rogan, he scoffed that he had been canceled due to a response (again). He also made new trance jokes.
“I’ve never been in so much trouble in my life,” Chappelle, 48, joked at the start of the show. Rolling Stone,, who wrote that he spent his hour at the microphone and roasted the so-called “PC culture”.
Local store NOLA.com reports that Chappelle boasted in front of a sold-out crowd of 17,000 spectators: “In the middle of my resignation, we broke the attendance record” at the Smoothie King Center, where the arena took place.
Chappelle, who now infamously said in his latest special program for the streamer that “gender is a fact,” and continued Harry Potter author JK Rowling, accusing her of being transphobic, told the crowd that he had “the worst three weeks of my life” after being accused of being transphobic and homophobic. However, the star, who has Netflix support, stood by his comment.
During the show, Chappelle “lit one cigarette after another as he set up the defense – and happily poured more fuel on the fire,” in the form of multiple trans jokes, NOLA.com reports.
The betrayal upset them, beginning with a moment in the show when a member of the audience offered Chappell a sip of beer, which he refused – for fear that it might contain a “transgender formula”.
The second was after the audience whistled one of his jokes about football. He replied, “Don’t bother with me.”
There were his bodyguards there and someone asked why he needed them to be present during the show. “Because these transsexuals are trying to kill me!” was his reported response.
Fox News had Chappell’s apparent punch at the end of the show. When he finished, he told the audience to buy them a cup of coffee if they saw a transgender person on the street.
“When they ask you why you’re doing this for them, tell them Dave Chappelle is saying hello,” Chappelle said.
Chappelle also told the audience that he believes his critics have “done something in their lives that they can’t forgive themselves” and should look inside themselves instead of coming for him. “Whatever you did, forgive yourself.” He also said of the controversy, which “made many white people angry.”
As for Rogan, his time on stage included his addressing taking anthelmintic for horses for COVID-19, which is not an FDA approved drug. “This is my advice: don’t listen to my advice,” he told the crowd. Rogan was also making jokes about gender, including one about being at the airport in the TSA security department when an agent called a male agent to pet him. “Did you just assume my gender?” he asked, mockingly offended. “You have no idea what’s in my heart.”
Chappelle’s special Netflix action immediately sparked controversy, including criticism of GLAAD and the National Black Justice Coalition for jokes aimed at the LGBTQ + community, especially trans people.
“Gender is a fact. Every man in this room, every man on earth, had to go through a woman’s legs to be on earth. That’s a fact, ”Chappelle said during the special.
On the subject of Rowling, he said she was “canceled” because she “actually said gender was a fact. The trans community got angry, they started calling her TERF. I’m the TERF team. Gender is fact.” (TERF means “transsexual radical feminists,” whose views on feminism are seen as anti-trans.)
Chappelle also mocked the genitals of trans women.
Netflix supported the comic in the midst of a negative response, leading to a walk in the company and a rally that attracted the support of hundreds of activists and allies, among others Elliot Page, a trans star on Netflix Umbrella Academy.
The comic then said it was willing meet Netflix employees who are upset about his jokes, however had special conditions.
“For the transgender community, I’m more than willing to give you an audience,” Chappelle said. “But you won’t call me. I’m not guessing anyone. And if you want to meet me, I’d be more than ready, but I have some conditions. First, you can’t come if you haven’t watched my special from start to finish. You have to come. to the place I choose at the time I choose. And third, you have to admit that Hannah Gadsby isn’t funny. ” (Gadsby is an Australian comic and lesbian who was discovered in his critique of the Chappella controversy.)
Chappelle also had support beyond Netflix under Ted Sarandos, who said Chappelle’s jokes were a matter of artistic freedom – including support Caitlyn Jenner.