Dave Chappelle: ‘If this is what being canceled is like, I love it’
Dave Chappelle is seemingly embracing “being canceled” amid a controversy over transphobic comments in his latest comedy special.
“If this is what being canceled is like, I love it,” Chappelle said Thursday during an appearance at the Hollywood Bowl after getting a standing ovation, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
“F— Twitter. F— NBC News, ABC News, all these stupid ass networks,” the 48-year-old comic told the crowd during brief remarks. “I’m not talking to them. I’m talking to you. This is real life.”
Critics accused Chappelle of “ridiculing trans people” in his Netflix special “The Closer,” which debuted earlier this week.
“Gender is a fact,” Chappelle says in the program, while defending author J.K. Rowling against critics who have called her transphobic.
“Every human being in this room, every human being on earth, had to pass through the legs of a woman to be on Earth. That is a fact,” Chappelle said, using crude terms to refer to a transgender person’s anatomy.
The National Black Justice Coalition, an LGBTQ advocacy organization, has urged Netflix to remove “The Closer” from its platform, saying the media giant “should know better.”
GLAAD slammed Chappelle, saying the comedian’s brand “has become synonymous with ridiculing trans people and other marginalized communities.”
A Netflix spokesperson denied ITK’s request for comment on Thursday.
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