Dave Chappelle is a funny guy, but he’s taking the onslaught of criticism against him seriously.
The comedian continues to address criticism over his controversial Netflix comedy special “The Closer,” this time posting a five-minute video on Instagram in which he responded to the backlash — and dropped a few more jokes.
And Chappelle declared he won’t be “bending to anybody’s demands.”
“To the transgender community, I am more than willing to give you an audience, but you will not summon me. I am not bending to anyone’s demands,” Chappelle said in the clip.
Chappelle also addressed a walkout at Netflix by transgender employees after one person was suspended by the company for ripping Chappelle on Twitter.
“It’s been said in the press that I was invited to speak to the transgender employees of Netflix and I refused. That is not true — if they had invited me I would have accepted it, although I am confused about what we would be speaking about,” Chappelle said. “I said what I said, and boy, I heard what you said. My God, how could I not? You said you want a safe working environment at Netflix. It seems like I’m the only one that can’t go to the office anymore.”
“And if you want to meet with me, I am more than willing to, but I have some conditions,” he said, drawing laughter. “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,” he said.
Chappelle also said “the media frames it that it’s me versus that community, that is not what it is. Do not blame the LBGTQ [sic] community for any of this sh*t.”
“This has nothing to do with them. It’s about corporate interests and what I can say and what I cannot say,” Chappelle said. “For the record, and I need you to know this, everyone I know from that community has been loving and supporting, so I don’t know what all this nonsense is about.”
The comedian also said his upcoming documentary about his summer 2020 comedy tour has been all but canceled by the woke community, expelled from film festivals.
“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,” he said. “And now, today, not a film company, not a movie studio, not a film festival, nobody will touch this film. Thank God for [Netflix co-CEO] Ted Sarandos and Netflix, he’s the only one that didn’t cancel me yet.”
In conclusion, Chappelle said he would release the film in 10 American cities so “you can judge for yourself.”
“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?” The crowd cheered.
“Then let’s go,” he said.