Since the 5th of October, Dave Chapelle, the comedian, has been under fire, because that’s when his latest show was released. Apparently, The Closer offended the transgender community that GLAAD condemned it and employees of the streaming service walked out in protest.
In his show, Dave said: "Gender is a fact," and then he defended Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, who has been accused of being transphobic. The offended employees had called for the company to take measures that would keep Netflix from promoting misinformation about trans and nonbinary communities in the future.
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On Monday, Dave posted a video fragment from a post-The Closer performance, which clarified his point of view on the matter:
"It's been said in the press that I was invited to speak to the transgender employees at 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're speaking about. 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. Well, it seems like I'm the only one that can't go to the office anymore."
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Chapelle also asked the audience not to blame the LGBTQ+ community:
“I want everyone in this audience to know that, even though the media frames us that it’s me versus that community, that is not what it is. Let’s not blame the LGBT community for any of this shit. This has nothing to do with them. It’s about corporate interests and what I can say and what I cannot say. For the record, and I need you to know this, everyone I know from that community has been nothing but loving and supportive, so I don’t know what all this nonsense is about.”
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The comedian said what it would take for him to sit down with his critics, involving Hannah Gadsby, a fellow comedian, who insulted Netflix CEO, Ted Sarandos, the person, who defended Chappelle's ‘artistic expression’ after the premiere of the special. Sarandos used Gadsby, a member of the LGBTQ+ community, as an example of why Dave's show would not be removed; there was diversity, according to him. Hannah Gadsby replied by asking him to leave her out of the debate. In accordance with Chapelle:
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"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 anybody's demands. And if you want to meet with me, I'd be more than willing to, but I have some conditions. 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."
Dave mentioned some of the consequences that he has seen over the past three weeks. For example, he said interest in Untitled, the documentary he created about the murder of George Floyd, has been greatly reduced:
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"This film that I made was invited to every film festival in the United States. Some of those invitations I accepted, and when this controversy came out, about The Closer, they began disinviting me from these film festivals. And now, today, not a film company, not a movie studio, not a film festival, nobody will touch this film. Thank God for Ted Sarandos at Netflix. He's the only one that didn't cancel me yet."
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