When he tells trans jokes, he gets plenty.
4
I have a personal axe to grind.
Chappelle seems to be up to something else.
Vanity Fair’s Chris Murphy notes that Chappelle’s jokes are more barbed, comedic arguments that society values the queer community more than it does Black men. “In our country, you can shoot and kill a (n-word), but you better not hurt a gay person’s feelings.”
Chappelle is clearly frustrated and hurt that those he offended are trying to get him kicked off of Netflix or worse. Each sold-out show he performs is vindication that he was right all along, an act of revenge against people who want him to stick to jokes about more innocuous topics -- or, perhaps, to shut up altogether.
Which, of course, doesn’t explain why Chappelle had to go there in the first place.
The issue, argues Them’s Shar Jossell, is that “these jokes often come with a hefty price for the trans community, and there are harsher implications at play.” Jossel points to a Human Rights Campaign study that painted 2020 as the deadliest year on record for trans people.
That was the message behind a Netflix walkout protesting Chappelle’s special. “We are here today not because we don’t know how to take a joke,” said trans activist Ashlee Marie Preston. “We’re here because we’re concerned that the jokes are taking lives.”
So yeah, it’s serious stuff. But that doesn’t make the subject off-limits for comedy -- there are plenty of hilarious trans comics who joke about it all the time in ways that are insightful, informed, and yes, funny. That’s all we’re asking from Gervais and Chappelle. Not reasons or arguments for misguided bits but smarter comedy, with jokes that clearly punch up instead of down. What do you say, Netflix -- can we put that in the rider for the next special?
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Top image: Netflix