In his recent Netflix comedy special The Closer, Dave Chappelle defended JK Rowling for her anti-trans comments and is now facing an enormous backlash.
Chappelle, whose sixth Netflix special premiered this week, is known for his sardonic and zany humour, using comedy to raise awareness about various socio-political issues. In doing so, he provides a scathing commentary on society with a side of sarcasm.
In his latest special, he called himself a TERF that stands for trans-exclusionary radical feminist while exclaiming how he stands by Rowling who was cancelled a few years prior due to her insensitive comments about the trans community.
Chappelle has received backlash for his anti-trans jokes in the past as well. However, in 2017, he had defended himself by talking about how he would never discriminate against anyone based on their sexuality.
In this latest special, he elaborated on how he had an “issue” with the whites who had cancelled him and not the community itself. “Any of you who have ever watched me know that I have never had a problem with transgender people,” he said.
“If you listen to what I’m saying, clearly, my problem has always been with white people.”
He also stood by DaBaby, the rapper who was called out for his ignorant comments about gay men as well as Kevin Hart, the iconic comedian, who did not host Oscars in 2019 after some of his past homophobic tweets resurfaced. He even spoke about how the internet users and the trans community called Rowling a TERF after “effectually she said gender was a fact”.
He agreed to Rowling’s comments and referred to himself as a TERF and even made comments about trans women’s genitals while drawing parallels between being trans to the white people pretending they are Black.
While he spoke of the biological process of giving birth, he also ended the special by saying how he would no longer continue to professionally joke about the “LBGTQ, LMNOPQXYZ people.”
All his comments were in bad taste according to netizens who demanded The Closer to be pulled off by Netflix. The executive director of the National Black Justice Coalition, David Johns expressed his feelings towards the same.
“It is deeply disappointing that Netflix allowed Dave Chappelle’s lazy and hostile transphobia and homophobia to air on its platform,’ he said.
