GLAAD Takes Offence To Dave Chappelle’s New Netflix Special, Claims The Comedian’s Brand “Has Become Synonymous With Ridiculing Trans People”
GLAAD has recently took to social media to condemn Dave Chappelle’s The Closer, the renowned comedian’s new Netflix special, on the grounds that they believe a specific segment of his performance is offensive towards the transgender community.
Pointing to a review of the special published by NPR titled “For Dave Chappelle, punchlines are dares. His new special, ‘The Closer,’ goes too far,” in which NPR television critic Eric Deggans made the outrageous and uneducated claim that “Chappelle is using white privilege to excuse his own homophobia and transphobia,” – whilst simultaneously failing to understand that comedy does not need to conform to his own personal woke standards nor be objective – GLAAD claimed on October 6th that “Dave Chappelle’s brand has become synonymous with ridiculing trans people and other marginalized communities.”
“Negative reviews and viewers loudly condemning his latest special is a message to the industry that audiences don’t support platforming anti-LGBTQ diatribes. We agree,” asserted the woke organisation that proclaims itself as “a dynamic media force that tackles tough issues to shape the narrative and provoke dialogue that leads to cultural change.”
However, GLAAD is fairly wrong about Chappelle’s new special being negatively reviewed and condemned. According to review aggregator site RottenTomatoes, as of this writing, The Closer has an audience score of 96%.
If there’s any outrage, it’s clearly being blown out of proportion by woke entertainment media outlets and organisations who are looking for a reason to be offended by Chappelle and other such comedians who refuse to bend the knee to the woke mob.
In particular, Deggans and GLAAD are speaking in reference to The Closer’s focus on jokes regarding the ‘alphabet people’ – Chappelle’s own personal way of referring to the LGBTQ+ community – because they successfully managed to hurt their own causes and sensibilities.
Near the end of his stand-up routine, the comedian told a heartfelt story involving late transgender comedian Daphne Dorman, who committed suicide a few days after Chappelle was targeted by the LGBTQ community for his Stick & Stones special.
“When Sticks & Stones came out, a lot of people in the trans community were furious with me and apparently they dragged me on Twitter,” recalled the comedian, adding, “I don’t give a f—k ’cause Twitter is not a real place.”
He continued, “And the hardest thing for a person to do is go against their tribe if they disagree with their tribe, but Daphne did that for me. She wrote a tweet that was very beautiful and what she said was, and it is almost exactly what she said. She said, ‘punching down on someone requires you to think less of them and I know [Chappelle] and he doesn’t. He doesn’t punch up, he doesn’t punch down, he punches lines, and he is a master at his craft.'”
“Beautiful tweet, beautiful friend, it took a lot of heart to defend me like that. And when she did that, the trans community dragged that b—h all over Twitter. For days they was going in on her, and she was holding her own ’cause she’s funny. But six days after that wonderful night I described to you, my friend Daphne killed herself,” Chappelle concluded, before noting, “Oh yeah, this is a true story, my heart was broken.”
Chappelle recalled Dorman’s tweet almost verbatim. In 2019, following the release of Sticks & Stones, the transgender comedian wrote, “Punching down requires you to consider yourself superior to another group. @DaveChappelle doesn’t consider himself better than me in any way. He isn’t punching up or punching down. He’s punching lines. That’s his job and he’s a master of his craft. ”
In a follow-up tweet, Dorman expressed further support for Chappelle, writing, “I love all the people who watched the epilogue in #SticksAndStones writing to ask me if @DaveChappelle asked for my consent before he reached up my skirt.”
“And I’m like, ‘I don’t know. I was too busy sucking his big, comedy d—k,'” the comedian added.
In regard to The Closer, users across Twitter – including many who were LGBT+ themselves – were supportive of Chapelle’s new special, with a number even responding to GLAAD and calling out the woke organisation’s disingenuous criticisms.
“It’s sad that so many people missed the point of this special. People just WANT to hate Dave Chappelle, so play the victim,” wrote @LostNYou_13. “The more people f—k with him, the more you prove his point. Stop taking everything as a personal attack.”
In a follow-up tweet, the same user brought up Dorman’s story and asserted, “It was clear as day when he was talking about Daphne. His friend and somebody he respected a lot. Especially her words, ‘I’m just having a human experience.’ It was perfect. He’s not attacking you in this special. And if you can’t see that, then the problem isn’t Dave’s.”
“No outrage for Daphne being bullied to suicide for protecting @DaveChappelle but this wat y’all doing,” said @Mo_Lov3.
@SS011503 stated ,”Dave Chappelle is one of the greatest comedians to ever live. Jokes are jokes.”
“Lots of gays and lesbians agree with him,” chimed in @wolfgang_flur. “Also, we can take being joked about. It’s comedy and his opinions.”
@acemandeluxe observed that, in reality, GLAAD not only chose to be offended by Chappelle’s jokes, but also completely dismissed the comedian’s tragic story about Dorman.
“Comedian: ‘Trans is silly… but all jokes aside I love trans people and I had a friend who died who was trans. I have nothing but support for all of you,” they wrote. “GLAAD: ‘DID YOU JUST CALL US SILLY?!'”
Making yet another compelling point in defence of the comedian, @Charles_4914 wrote, “Dave Chapelle does not fail if you have a problem with what he saying don’t watch it. U don’t get to control everything… EVERYONE likes different s—t and if it offends you watch something else!!!”
“You didn’t actually watch the special did you?,” asked @G_LaneHillman. “It’s more tragic what happened to Daphne.”
“If you get offended then you have bigger issues and need a reality check,” added @IvanatorX, before further elaborating, “these are jokes, so sorry your feeling got hurt you may want to just stick to [Disney] Plus programming.”
It wasn’t only Twitter users that expressed their support for Chappelle and his new stand-up routine, as Dorman’s family also openly threw their support behind the renowned comedian, with Dorman’s sister Becky telling The Daily Beast that “Daphne was in awe of Dave’s graciousness. She did not find his jokes rude, crude, off-coloring, off-putting, anything. She thought his jokes were funny. Daphne understood humor and comedy—she was not offended. Why would her family be offended?”
“Dave loved my sister and is an LGBTQ ally,” said Dorman’s other sister, Brandy, adding that Chappelle’s “entire set was begging to end this very situation.”
What do you make of GLAAD’s attempt to cancel Chappelle for his new Netflix special? If you’ve already watched it, what is your opinion of The Closer? Let us know your thoughts on social media or in the comments section down below!
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