In his most recent Netflix special, Dave Chappelle is once again addressing the transgender community.
“The Dreamer,” Chappelle’s newest stand-up special, debuted on the streaming service on Sunday and provided viewers with an analytical look at his multi-decade career in the entertainment business.
The 50-year-old entertainer began his special by addressing his previous transphobic remarks and stating that he is “tired” of discussing the transgender community.
“You guys have come to the wrong show if you thought I was going to make fun of those people again when you came to this show tonight. I no longer fuck with those people,” Chappelle said in the new special, according to Variety. “It wasn’t worth the trouble. I’m not saying anything negative about transgender people. Maybe three or four times now, but that’s all. I’m sick of bringing them up.
“You want to know why I’m tired of talking about them,” he continued. “Because they acted as though I needed them to stay funny.”
The comedian then made an unexpected pivot by claiming to have since found a new target. “I’m not making transgender jokes again. You know what I’m going to do now? I’m making all the handicapped jokes now,” he chuckled.
Chappelle then made a joke about attempting to “repair” his standing with the trans community.
“To be completely honest, I’ve been working to mend my relationship with the transgender community because I don’t want them to think I dislike them. Do you know how I’ve been fixing it? With a play that I wrote. I did. because I know gay love works. The play is really sad, but it is moving. It’s about a trans Black person whose pronoun is regrettably ‘n****r.’ She dies of loneliness at the end of the play because white liberals don’t know how to approach her.”
The comedian also mocked the transgender community’s imprisonment by saying that he would rather be imprisoned as a woman.
“God forbid I actually serve time in jail. I hope it’s in California if I do, though. I’ll say, ‘Before you sentence me, I want the court to hear I identify as a woman,'” Chappelle exclaimed. “Take me to a women’s jail.
You know what I’m going to be doing as soon as I get in there. ‘Give me your fruit cocktail, woman, before I knock out your fucking teeth. I’m a woman, just like you, bitch. Come on over here and suck this woman dick I’ve got. Don’t make me explain myself. I’m a woman.'”
This isn’t the first time the comedic provocateur has faced controversy. After making transphobic remarks during his 2021 Netflix special “The Closer,” in which he claimed that transgender women would never be real women due to their biology, Chappelle found himself in the middle of controversy.
“You know what I mean when I say that those pussies that they got? He stated at the time. Not that it’s not pussy, but rather ‘Beyond Pussy’ or ‘Impossible Pussy,’ I’m saying. Although it tastes like pussy, isn’t that not quite what it is? It’s not heart. That is pistachio ice cream, right?”
Chappelle also defended J.K. Rowling, the author of Harry Potter, who is often referred to as a “trans-exclusionary radical feminist” (TERF).
“J.K. Rowling was canceled. My God, when she finally acknowledged that gender is a reality, the trans community became furious and started calling her ‘Team TERF.’ I agree. I agree, man. Gender is a reality.”
Many different reactions were sparked by Chappelle’s controversy in 2021.
Netflix was urged to take the special off its platform by the National Black Justice Coalition. “It is deeply disappointing that Netflix allowed Dave Chappelle’s lazy and hostile transphobia and homophobia to air on its platform,” said NBJC executive director David Johns in a statement to Deadline.
