Dave Chappelle Addresses Backlash Over Anti-Transgender Joke

Dave Chappelle is one of the most renowned stand-up comedians in the world. He first gained notoriety with his Comedy Central television series “Chappelle’s Show” which ran from 2003 to 2006. He is known for his observational humor and commentary on race and politics. Chappelle has won multiple awards for his comedy, including two Emmy Awards and three Grammy Awards. He has recently found himself in some trouble for a joke he made about trans people.

The controversy started a couple of years ago in 2017 when he made a joke aimed at trans people for at least 20 minutes. He poked fun of their bodies and referred to trans people as “transgenders.”

Over the next few years, Dave Chappelle would continue to make fun of the trans community and he even claimed his friend Daphne Dorman who is a trans comedian laughed hardest at his jokes about trans people.

All these comments and jokes have resulted in severe backlash towards the comedian. In a recent episode of his The Midnight Miracle podcast, Dave addessed the backlash he’s received. Last July, Minneapolis’ First Avenue club cancelled his comedy show due to the backlash.

“I guess apparently they had made a pledge to the public at large that they would make their club a safe space for all people, and that they would ban anything they deemed transphobic,” he said on the podcast, via Variety.

Hence, he ended up playing the Varsity Theater which attracted protesters. He even described how the protesters threw eggs at the people lined up to see the show.

“These were grown people of various genders and gender identities,” he said. “They threw eggs. They threw eggs at the [fans] who were lined up to see the show.

One lady was so mad with the protesters, she picked up a police barricade. You ever seen one? They look like a bike rack. This b-tch picked that barricade up by herself and and threw it at the crowd. I gotta tell you, it’s an amazing feat of strength for a woman,” he continued.

Dave then stated how watching his comedy show became a huge act of defiance. He also described how his fans were peaceful and nice towards the protesters.

“When I walked on stage, it was a huge ovation because suddenly going to see a comedy show was this huge act of defiance. I don’t think anyone had any malicious intent. In fact, one of the things that these people, the trans and their surrogates, always say is that my jokes are somehow gonna be the root cause of some impending violence that they feel like is inevitable for my jokes. But I gotta tell you, as abrasive as they were, the way they were protesting, throwing eggs at people, throwing barricades, cussing and screaming, [none of my fans] beat ‘em up. In fact, the people in the crowd would just say, ‘We love you. Like what are you talking about?’”

Dave Chappelle further stated that he believes the gay community is “monolithic.” He also said that he takes issue with the fact that he isn’t allowed to say it because the trans community doesn’t like it.

“Now I have a belief that the gay community is not monolithic, and I think that in regards to me, that there’s probably a variety of opinions throughout that. But there’s a thing they do where they deliberately obscure what I think they believe is the intent of my work to make a moment of it that I don’t know that the work necessarily merits. You know what I mean?

I’m not even mad that they take issue with my work. Good, fine. Who cares? What I take issue with is the idea that because they don’t like it, I’m not allowed to say it. Art is a nuanced endeavor. I have a belief that they are trying to take the nuance out of speech in American culture, that they’re making people speak as if they’re either on the right or the left. Everything seems absolute, and any opinion I respect is way more nuanced than these binary choices they keep putting in front of us. I don’t see the world in red or blue,” Dave said.

He ended his rant by claiming that they are trying to be feared by silencing him. He said:

“Trying to silence a person like me, I don’t think it has anything to do with being loved. They want to be feared. ‘If you say this, then we will punish you. We’ll come to First Avenue and f-ck your show up and we’ll come to the Varsity Theater and f-ck your show up.’ And they just don’t get to do that.”

Based on Dave’s comments, it doesn’t look like he is fazed by the trans community and is going to continue to makes jokes at their expense. Stay tuned to Thirsty For News as we keep you updated on this story.

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