Dave Chappelle rails against cancel culture amid ‘The Closer’ controversy
Comedian Dave Chappelle railed against cancel culture, Twitter and left-leaning news outlets Thursday amid controversy over his latest Netflix special, “The Closer” — telling a star-studded, sold-out crowd in Los Angeles that, “If this is what being canceled is about, I love it.”
“I don’t know what to tell you, except I’m a bad motherf–ker,” the 48-year-old funnyman told the rapturous audience of more than 18,000 at the Hollywood Bowl following the screening of his “Untitled: Dave Chappelle Documentary,” Deadline reported.
The outspoken stand-up star then got more pointed and specific.
“F–k Twitter. F–k NBC News, ABC News, all these stupid ass networks. I’m not talking to them. I’m talking to you. This is real life,” he said to loud roars from the crowd, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Chappelle was responding to the torrent of criticism he’s received following Tuesday’s release of his sixth and final Netflix special, which some have blasted as transphobic.
“They canceled J.K. Rowling, my God,” Chappelle said in the special, “The Closer.” “Effectually she said gender was a fact, and then the trans community got mad as sh–, they started calling her a TERF.”
The comic then declared himself to be on “Team TERF” — trans-exclusionary radical feminists — prompting applause from the audience watching the show.
“I agree,” he said. “I agree, man. Gender is a fact. You have to look at it from a woman’s perspective.”
Jaclyn Moore, executive producer and showrunner of Netflix’s “Dear White People,” was among those who said they were offended by Chappelle’s comments in “The Closer,” tweeting Wednesday that she was “done” with the streaming giant.
“His shadow is huge,” Moore told Variety Thursday while detailing her boycott of Netflix. “He’s a brilliant goofy comedian, he’s brilliant as a political comedian. He has been brilliant for so, so long, but I also don’t think because you’ve been brilliant means that you’re always brilliant.”
Moore, who transitioned during the pandemic, told Variety she decided to speak out on Twitter because Chappelle’s material on the transgender community “felt different” than his earlier takes on the topic.
“I have been thrown against a wall for using a women’s bathroom,” 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.”
Chappelle also took heat for conflating rapper DaBaby’s homophobic comments with systemic racism, saying you can “shoot and kill a [N-word]” in America, but you “better not hurt a gay person’s feelings” while referencing a fatal 2018 shooting involving the rapper at a Walmart in North Carolina.
“Dave Chappelle: The Closer” was ranked No. 4 as of Friday on Netflix’s top 10 streaming list.
“As he closes out his slate of comedy specials, Dave Chappelle takes the stage to try and set the record straight – and get a few things off his chest,” reads a listing for the 72-minute special.
