Dave Chappelle has released a new Netflix special, The Dreamer, which is full of jokes about the trans community and disabled people.
“I love punching down!” he tells the audience, in a one-hour show that landed on the streaming service today (31 December).
It’s his seventh special for Netflix and comes two years after his last one, the highly controversial release The Closer.
That programme was criticised for its relentless jokes about the trans community, and Chappelle revisits the topic in his new show.
He tells jokes about trans women in prison, and about trans people “pretending” to be somebody they are not.
If he were merely telling unfunny, inoffensive jokes, people would stop listening. But people wouldn’t call that canceling; they’d just say that he used to be great and place the blame on his shoulders. But because it’s unfunny, offensive jokes, it’s suddenly the audience’s fault for walking away.
Don’t blame the audience for refusing to listen to him. It’s his job to draw people in, and it’s his fault if he fails to do so.
That’s fine for not liking his content. That’s exactly what you should do, watch something else.
Now, to put everything into good vs bad, and say he “wants to kill us”, and that by enjoying Chapelle’s (which I don’t even like so much these days) content you are automatically transphobe.