Caitlyn Jenner is defending Dave Chappelle amid backlash to his Netflix special “The Closer,” saying the comedian is “100% right.”
“Dave Chappelle is 100% right,” Jenner, who is transgender, tweeted Tuesday along with a video clip of Chappelle.
“This isn’t about the LGBTQ movement,” Jenner added. “It’s about woke cancel culture run amok, trying to silence free speech.”
“We must never yield or bow to those who wish to stop us from speaking our minds,” the former Olympian added.
Among other remarks in “The Closer,” Chappelle said that he considers himself to be “team TERF,” an acronym for “trans-exclusionary radical feminist,” or a feminist that does not consider transgender women to be women.
A small group of employees walked out of the Netflix headquarters last week to protest Chappelle’s remarks on transgender people in “The Closer.”
“It’s been said in the press that I was invited to speak to the transgender employees of Netflix and I refused,” Chappelle said in the clip Jenner shared of a recent show.
Dave Chappelle is 100% right. This isn’t about the LGBTQ movement. It’s about woke cancel culture run amok, trying to silence free speech.
We must never yield or bow to those who wish to stop us from speaking our minds. pic.twitter.com/Nklalj6h5Y
— Caitlyn Jenner (@Caitlyn_Jenner) October 26, 2021
“That is not true. If they had invited me, I would have accepted it although I am confused about what we are speaking about,” he said.
“I said what I said and boy, I heard what you said,” Chappelle continued. “You said you want a safe working environment at Netflix. Well, it seems like I’m the only one who can’t go to the office anymore.”
Chappelle cautioned the audience that while the media frames the controversy surrounding his special as a conflict between him and the LGBT community, “that is not what it is.”
“It’s about corporate interests and what I can say and what I cannot say,” he said to cheers from the audience.
Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos has defended the special and said the company will not be removing it from the streaming platform.
“It never feels good when people are hurting, especially our colleagues,” Sarandos said, adding that “some talent may join third parties in asking us to remove the show in the coming days, which we are not going to do.”
The Netflix chief said the company does not believe “The Closer” crosses the line of being “designed to incite hate or violence.”
Chappelle has stood by his remarks on his special and said that his documentary, “Untitled,” was set to be featured at several film festivals, but he has been uninvited since his special.
The comedian said at the same show recently that he would be “more than willing” to meet with the transgender community but “you will not summon me” and said he has 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 and a time of my choosing. And thirdly, you must admit that Hannah Gadsby is not funny,” Chappelle told the audience.
In June, Jenner said that it had been harder to come out as Republican than as transgender.