Dave Chappelle doesn’t seem to mind taking the heat.
Amid controversy over comments made about trans people in his latest standup special for Netflix, the comedian played to a sold-out Hollywood Bowl in L.A. on Thursday.
Receiving a standing ovation from the audience, Chappelle remarked, “If this is what being cancelled is like, I love it,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.
He later responded more directly to his critics in the media, telling the audience, “F**k Twitter. F**k NBC News, ABC News, all these stupid a** networks. I’m not talking to them. I’m talking to you. This is real life.”
The negative response from many in the LGBTQ community to his standup special was focused on his statements about trans women.
“Gender is a fact. 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,” he says at one point in the special.
He also shows his support in the special for J.K. Rowling, who has been criticized for her comments about trans people, calling himself “team TERF,” which refers to trans-exclusionary radical feminist, a term used for people who exclude trans women from the category of women.
In a tweet, GLAAD responded to the special, stating, “Dave Chappelle’s brand has become synonymous with ridiculing trans people and other marginalized communities. Negative reviews and viewers loudly condemning his latest special is a message to the industry that audiences don’t support platforming anti-LGBTQ diatribes. We agree.”
The special also prompted “Dear White People” showrunner Jaclyn Moore, who is herself trans, to announce that she will no longer work with Netflix as long as the streamer continues to “put out and profit from blatantly and dangerously transphobic content.”
