Dave Chappelle’s Netflix special, The Closer, is causing outrage for multiple reasons…
Now, when I first heard that comedian, Dave Chappelle was going to be getting another show, I was actually quite excited…
But upon reading the reviews in the wake of the tragedy that is one of his last stints on Netflix, I was left with a lingering nauseating feeling about the entire thing.
The Closer was supposed to be a hilarious attempt to “set the record straight” as some of his last few shows have also been slammed for their offensive nature…
But instead, he doubled down on almost every “phobic” and every “ism” you could imagine.
Don’t get me wrong, I can totally handle jokes that play around with taboo topics, and with comedians, every single one of them is an open target. But you’re not funny if your jokes come across as lazy and hostile. And that’s where, in my humble opinion, Chappelle went wrong with one particular portion of the show.
And it was when he made “jokes” about the trans community…
While the forty-eight-year-old comedian had the chance to clear up any misunderstandings about his previous statements against the LGBTQ+ community, especially in regards to trans people, he thought he could battle his way out of the situation using the only tool cis-males tend to revert to: Aggression.
During one monologue, Chappelle expresses his support for J.K. Rowling, the Harry Potter author who has been repeatedly slammed for her transphobia.
Not only that, but he also recalled a harrowing and uncomfortable tale about beating up a lesbian in a nightclub. Witless and disgusting. There’s no way of making that sound charming, is there? But why the hell would you want to given the fact that that is the prime location for the growing hate crimes against the trans community.
And let’s not even talk about the fact that he described himself as “TERF” (trans-exclusionary radical feminist) while also discussing his opinions on trans “pu**y.” Yeah. As I said before… Charming.
And those people that are pretending these “jokes” were “genius”, we know it’s just a cover-up for you to be able to laugh at something you don’t truly understand and that’s the problem with things like this. Comedians might actually be geniuses, but you know who’s not? Audiences. And that’s where the problem lies.
Things have gotten so bad that even the National Black Justice Coalition has stepped in to have the show removed from the streaming platform.
“It is deeply disappointing that Netflix allowed Dave Chappelle’s lazy and hostile transphobia and homophobia to air on its platform,” the executive director of the group, David Johns, said in a statement to Deadline. “With 2021 on track to be the deadliest year on record for transgender people in the United States — the majority of whom are Black transgender people — Netflix should know better. Perpetuating transphobia perpetuates violence. Netflix should immediately pull The Closer from its platform and directly apologize to the transgender community.”
If I were you, I’d stray away from giving it a watch, not even just to be appalled at it. I hear watching paint dry is more enjoyable, so if you’re looking for something better to do, why not give that a go instead?