Comedian Dave Chappelle said in a video posted Monday that the film industry has blacklisted his new documentary, “Untitled,” amid controversy from his latest Netflix special, “The Closer.”
Chappelle posted a video on Instagram on Monday firing back at his critics and claiming that the backlash against him was being driven by corporations with little to do with the LGBT community. Chappelle has taken heat in recent weeks over jokes about gender and his proclamation to be “team TERF” in “The Closer.”
In the Instagram video, Chappelle also revealed that numerous invites to air his new documentary, filmed during the COVID-19 pandemic last year, have been rescinded after he began receiving backlash over his set of transgender jokes.
“In summer 2020 when the whole world shut down, I was outside doing shows. My neighbor had a cornfield and he let me throw shows there and people came from all over the country. Some people came from around the world to see those shows. The best comedians on earth came to my home and broke bread with me and we live our lives. We found a way to keep moving forward,” Chappelle said.
“I made a whole documentary about it. The first night of those shows is a piece some of you might have seen. It was called ‘8:46’ and it dealt with the death, the murder of George Floyd,” he continued. “This film that I made was invited to every film festival in the United States and some of those invitations I accepted.”
“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,” Chappelle said.
The comedian said that despite the blacklist, he was determined to get the movie out in the public. He announced that he would make his documentary available in 10 U.S. cities in the coming weeks so that people “can see what they are trying to obstruct you from seeing.”
“I desperately want people to see this movie, but I understand why investors would be nervous. Since nobody will touch it, I’ll tell you what I’ll do: I will make it available for all of you in 10 American cities going on sale in the next few days. You will be able to see this movie in its entirety, and you can see what they are trying to obstruct you from seeing And you can judge for yourself,” Chappelle said. “But you cannot have this conversation and exclude my voice from it. That is only fair. You have to answer the question, am I canceled or not?”
Daily Wire editor emeritus Ben Shapiro offered another way the famed comedian may be able to distribute his documentary: Through The Daily Wire. As Shapiro noted after The Daily Wire announced the signing of former ESPN sports reporter Allison Williams, “They cancel. We uncancel.”
“Happy to take a look over here, Dave,” Shapiro tweeted Monday, referring to Chappelle’s documentary.
Happy to take a look over here, Dave https://t.co/DCPPnEZ4S6
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) October 26, 2021
Related: Dave Chappelle Fires Back At Netflix Trans Activists: ‘I Said What I Said,’ ‘You Will Not Summon Me’