Dave Chappelle Decides Not To Have High School’s Theater Building Named After Him

Dave Chappelle is certainly one of the most popular comedians of all time, but also a controversial one. His range of comedies and impeccable timing made him a huge success. Chappelle also decided not to have his former high school’s theater building named after him.

As previously reported, Dave Chappelle’s former high school wanted to pay tribute to him by renaming the theater building in his honor – mere months after he got heckled on campus during the transgender controversy.

Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, D.C will not be renaming the theater building in Chappelle’s name anymore. According to Deadline, a ceremony was held in Chappelle’s honor at the school. However, Chappelle announced that the location would have another title: Theater for Artistic Freedom and Expression.

According to Washington Post columnist Josh Rogin and other reports, Chappelle explained his decision as to why he did not go with his own name.

“I saw in the newspaper that a man who was dressed in women’s clothing threw a pie at the Mona Lisa and tried to deface it. And it made me laugh and I thought, ‘It’s like The Closer.

You cannot report on an artist’s work and remove artistic nuance. When you say I can’t say something, the more urgent is it for me to say it. It has nothing to do with what you are saying I can’t say. It has everything to do with my freedom of artistic expression.”

In the end, Chappelle said he didn’t want any students to see his name on the theater and feel bad, so he decided to name it something else: “The idea that my name will be turned into an instrument of someone else’s perceived oppression is untenable to me.”

Dave Chappelle is busy with a lot of things in his life and he decided to not get involved in more controversy this time around.

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