At the conclusion of Netflix’s The Closer, released on Tuesday, Dave Chappelle vows to stop directing jokes at the LGBTQ+ community “until we are both sure that we are laughing together.” His words follow a history of transphobic remarks—and a final Netflix special in which he makes several jokes in line with them.
The 48-year-old comic has courted swift controversy amongst fans, cultural critics, and equal-rights organizations for justifying past offensive jokes—and making new ones—about the trans community. In Chappelle’s latest set, he defends other figures criticized for making homophobic and transphobic remarks, including the rapper DaBaby, Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, and Kevin Hart. (According to Variety, Netflix has declined to comment on the backlash.)
“They canceled J.K. Rowling—my God,” Chappelle says at one point. “Effectually, she said gender was a fact, the trans community got mad as shit, they started calling her a TERF,” he continues, referring to “trans-exclusionary radical feminists.” Chappelle goes on to declare, “I’m team TERF…. Gender is a fact. Every human being in this room, every human being on earth, had to pass through the legs of a woman to be on earth. That is a fact. Now, I am not saying that to say trans women aren’t women, I am just saying that those pussies that they got…you know what I mean? I’m not saying it’s not pussy, but it’s Beyond Pussy or Impossible Pussy.”
At least two trans women who have worked at Netflix voiced their disappointment in the streamer’s decision to platform Chappelle’s POV. Jaclyn Moore, showrunner on Netflix’s Dear White People, said she will cease to work with the company. Meanwhile, Terra Field, a senior software engineer at Netflix, explained the harm that comments like Chappelle’s do to the trans community, particularly members of color.
Chappelle also turns his attention to DaBaby, who was ousted from several gigs after making homophobic comments at Miami’s Rolling Loud festival over the summer. “In our country, you can shoot and kill a [N-word], but you better not hurt a gay person’s feelings,” Chappelle says, referencing a 2018 shooting at a Walmart in North Carolina that involved DaBaby, who claimed he and his family had been threatened.
“Dave Chappelle’s brand has become synonymous with ridiculing trans people and other marginalized communities,” GLAAD tweeted in response to his special. “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.”
The comedian also speaks at length about the disparity he says he sees between treatment of the LGBTQ+ and Black communities. “Oh, I’m jealous,” Chappelle quips. “I’m not the only Black person that feels this way. We look at the gay community, we go, Goddamn it—look at how well that movement is going! Look at how well you are doing. And we’ve been trapped in this predicament for hundreds of years. How the fuck are you making that kind of progress?” (At one point an audience member whoops when Chappelle brings up the North Carolina anti-trans bathroom bill—an indication that the movement is perhaps not going as smoothly as the comedian likes to suggest.)
Despite some of his inflammatory jokes, Chappelle also takes a moment in his special to mention his friendship with transgender comedian Daphne Dorman, who died by suicide in 2019. Chappelle speaks about her receptiveness to his jokes about trans people. “I don’t know what the trans community did for her, but I don’t care, because I feel like she wasn’t their tribe. She was mine. She was a comedian in her soul,” he says before explaining why he allegedly won’t joke about the LGBTQ+ population anymore.
“It is deeply disappointing that Netflix allowed Dave Chappelle’s lazy and hostile transphobia and homophobia to air on its platform,” National Black Justice Coalition executive director 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.”
Chappelle is reportedly ignoring the outrage. According to TMZ, when questioned by paparazzi outside of a Hollywood comedy club on Wednesday night, the comic replied simply: “Dumb-ass questions.”
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