While appearing at a stand-up gig in Nashville, Tennessee, on October 24, comedian Dave Chappelle spoke about addressing the Transgender community regarding his commentary on the Netflix stand-up comedy special, The Closer. He said he isn’t “bending to anybody’s demands.”
The comedian agreed to meet members of “the transgender community,” according to a video shared of his stand-up to his own Instagram account.
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“To the transgender community, I am more than willing to give you an audience, but you will not summon me,” he said during his stand-up.
“I am not bending to anybody’s demands. And if you want to meet with me, I’d be more than willing to, but I have some conditions. First of all, you cannot come if you have not watched my special from beginning to end. You must come to a place of my choosing at a time of my choosing, and thirdly, you must admit that Hannah Gadsby is not funny.”
“It’s been said in the press that I was invited to speak with transgender employees at Netflix, and I refused,” Chappelle said at the beginning of the video. “That is not true. If they had invited me, I would’ve accepted, although I am confused about what we’re speaking about.”
He continued: “I said what I said, and boy, I heard what you said. My god, how could I not? You said you wanted a safe working environment at Netflix. Well, it seems like I’m the only one who can’t go to the office anymore.”
Chappelle then called out Netflix and said that the criticism he’s gotten has come from “corporate interest” and that the LGBTQ + community isn’t to blame.
“I want everyone in this audience to know that even though the media frames it as though it’s me versus that community, that’s not what it is,” he said. “Do not blame the LBGTQ [sic] community for any of this s**t. This has nothing to do with them. It’s about corporate interest and what I can say and what I cannot say.”
The comedian also claimed that thanks to controversy with the Netflix special, his upcoming documentary, Dave Chappelle: Untitled, has also been affected.
“When this controversy came out about ‘The Closer,’ they began disinviting me from these film festivals. And now, today, not a film company, not a movie studio, not a film festival, nobody will touch this film. Thank God for Ted Sarandos and Netflix. He’s the only one that didn’t cancel me yet.”
Chapelle’s speech comes after Transgender employees at Netflix and their supporters decided to host a walkout on October 21. As reported by News Onyx, the protest was held in response to “transphobic” commentary said by Chappelle on his special, which was streamed on Netflix.
