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“[Netflix] is now in an uproar as employees challenge the executives responsible for its success and accuse the streaming service of facilitating the spread of hate speech and perhaps inciting violence. At the center of the unrest is ‘The Closer,’ the much-anticipated special from the Emmy-winning comedian Dave Chappelle, which debuted on Oct. 5 and was the fourth-most-watched program on Netflix in the United States on Thursday. In the show, Mr. Chappelle comments mockingly on transgender people and aligns himself with the author J.K. Rowling as ‘Team TERF,’ an acronym for trans-exclusionary radical feminist, a term used for a group of people who argue that a transgender woman’s biological sex determines her gender and can’t be changed.” New York Times
“A top Netflix executive said Dave Chappelle’s special ‘The Closer’ doesn’t cross ‘the line on hate’ and will remain on the streaming service despite fallout over the comedian’s remarks about the transgender community. In an internal memo, co-CEO Ted Sarandos told managers that ‘some talent’ may join third parties in calling for the show’s removal, adding, ‘which we are not going to do.’” AP News
Here are more details about what Chappelle said. Newsweek
The right defends Chappelle’s comments, arguing that many people share his views, and criticizes cancel culture.
“Remember when conservatives criticized rap music and video games for glorifying violence and misogyny, and the Left accused them of being an American Taliban? Good times, good times. The Right hasn’t entirely abandoned those arguments, but they have certainly learned a new appreciation for freedom of speech as political correctness took more and more specific aim at conservatives and critics of the Left.”
Ed Morrissey, Hot Air
“‘Gender is a fact’ would not have been a controversial statement 20 years ago, and only a small minority would disagree with that statement even today. If saying ‘Gender is a fact’ makes you transphobic, no matter how respectful you may be of the feelings of trans people, no matter how gracious you may be to trans people, no matter if you have (as Chappelle has) set up a trust fund for the daughter of a trans person (Daphne), then the trans movement is insisting on ruling out of bounds the views of most people…
“That isn’t the path to acceptance, and the angry calls by trans activists for Chappelle’s special to be yanked strike most people as far more troubling than anything Chappelle has ever said. Whatever happened to ‘agree to disagree’? Chappelle is telling trans folks, ‘I respect you, but I disagree with you.’…
“Trans individuals and their allies reply that disagreement is itself disrespect, and not only is it disrespect, it’s hateful and beyond the pale. It must be punished. Chappelle is one of the finest practitioners of his art in America. Shutting him down can’t be the answer to the question of how trans people can gain respect.”
Kyle Smith, National Review
“You can’t cancel money. And Chappelle is big, big money. Netflix is notoriously tight-lipped about their ratings, but the fact that they were willing to hand the stand-up comic $20 million dollars for his efforts says a lot about what they have projected in return. And if informal ratings are any indication, Chappelle is a sure thing. His previous episode, ‘Sticks and Stones’ garnered an almost unheard of 99% Audience Score on Rotten Tomatoes. So far, ‘The Closer’ stands at a 96% Audience Score…
“It turns out controversy still sells and money still talks. Netflix could have made the same overtures to the LGBTQ activists that other corporations are making, but they’ve obviously done the math and the math adds up – funny is more lucrative than virtue signaling.”
Kira Davis, RedState
The left criticizes Chappelle, arguing that his comments are transphobic and pit minority groups against each other.
The left criticizes Chappelle, arguing that his comments are transphobic and pit minority groups against each other.
“Chappelle treats equality as a zero-sum game in which some, though oppressed themselves, seem to be getting more equality than others. I think this is a dangerous game to play. Chappelle seems to believe in a dynamic in which it’s Black people vs. gay and trans people. A belief that essentially erases the experiences of people who are Black and queer. He seems to believe that the entirety of the queer community is White. I’m here to remind him that Black gay and trans people exist.”
Brian Broome, Washington Post
“Chappelle has always been narrowly focused on Black pain. And that when he speaks of the Black community, he is mostly talking about Black men. He is talking about the experience he knows best, his own. But he fails again and again when his attention turns toward other marginalized groups. ‘I am not indifferent to the suffering of someone else,’ he says, acknowledging the meanness of North Carolina’s bathroom bill. The moment of insight is short lived. In the next breath, he’s making a set of crude jokes that reduce trans people to body parts…
“So where does this leave us? Is Chappelle a bully? A victim? Can we still laugh at his jokes? Yes, also yes, and yes. He is clumsily and perhaps unknowingly inviting us to consider just how much work there is left to do in the pursuit of equality. And he is also reminding us that intersectionality is hard and complicated.”
Nicole Lewis, Slate
“One of the strangest but most telling moments in ‘The Closer’ is when Mr. Chappelle defends DaBaby, a rapper in the news for making pretty egregious homophobic remarks, and his fellow comedian Kevin Hart, who once lost an Oscars hosting gig for … making homophobic remarks. Both men faced professional consequences for their missteps, but neither was canceled: Mr. Hart remains one of the highest-paid comedians in the world. DaBaby has more than 43 million monthly listeners on Spotify…
“At the end of his special, Mr. Chappelle admonishes the L.G.B.T.Q. community one last time, imploring us to leave his ‘people’ alone. If it wasn’t clear from his words, the snapshots of him with his famous pals in the closing credits of ‘The Closer’ make it abundantly clear that Dave Chappelle’s people aren’t men or women or Black people. His people are wealthy celebrities, and he resents even the possibility of them facing consequences for their actions.”
Roxane Gay, New York Times
A libertarian's take
“Well-adjusted adults should be able to coexist in a world with people who don't share their tastes, morals, sensibilities, and convictions. They ought to be able to work for a company that platforms content that does not conform to their own personal sense of what is worthy or even prudent. You will not break, or be mowed down in the streets, simply because Chappelle said transgressive things in a Netflix special; the supposition that our world works that way is unfounded…
“Surprising no one, Chappelle—the man who once dreamed up Clayton Bigsby, a blind white supremacist who doesn't realize he's black—failed to make an adequately sensitive special, and he failed to make one that pleased or mollified critics. But he succeeded at making a special that was both funny and tender, if only people would stop chattering about his purported sins long enough to listen.”
Liz Wolfe, Reason
Wildlife photographer of the year 2021 winners.
The Guardian
