Entertainment

Dave Chappelle Slams Attacks Over ‘Closer’ Being About LGBTQ Community

Dave Chappelle: The Closer. (Credit: Mathieu Bitton/Netflix)

Katie Jerkovich Entertainment Reporter
Font Size:

Dave Chappelle slammed attacks over “The Closer” being about him versus the LGBTQ community and said his new special is about “corporate interests” and what he “can say” and “cannot say.”

During the 48-year-old comedian’s latest stand-up in the clip he posted on Instagram Monday, he said reports in the media that he was “invited to speak to the transgender employees at Netflix” and refused aren’t true, and if protesters had invited him, he would’ve accepted. (RELATED: ‘Gender Is A Fact’: They’re Not Going To Be Happy With Dave Chappelle’s Latest Bit On Trans Culture)

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Dave Chappelle (@davechappelle)

“If they had invited me I would have accepted, although I am confused about what we are speaking about,” Chappelle told the crowd. “I said what I said and boy I heard what you said … You said you want a safe working environment at Netflix, well it seems like I’m the only one who can’t go to the office anymore.” (RELATED: ‘No One Can Be Woke Enough’: Dave Chappelle And Joe Rogan Rip ‘Woke Ideology,’ Defend Elon Musk)

“Do not blame the LBGTQ Community for any of this shit, this has nothing to do with them,” he added. “It’s about corporate interest 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 supporting, so I don’t know what all this nonsense is about.”

The legendary comedian talked about how during summer 2020 he and other comedians did shows in his neighbor’s cornfield and said people from all over the world came to see them. He said “the best comedians on Earth came” to his home and “broke bread with him.” He made a whole documentary about it. It’s titled, “Untitled: Dave Chappelle Documentary”

“I made a whole documentary about it, the first night of those shows is a piece, and some of you might’ve have seen it, called 846 and it dealt with the death, the murder of George Floyd,” Chappelle said.

He explained how he was “invited to every film festival in the United States and some of those invitations” he accepted over his film. However, since the backlash over his Netflix special he’s been “disinvited” and said now “not a film company,” “not a movie studio” or “film festival,” nobody “will touch this film.”

Later, he explained how he was more than willing to give the transgender community an audience, but said they will not summon him.

“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,” Chappelle shared. His conditions include having to watch his special from beginning to end, allowing him to choose the place and time, and admitting that comedian Hannah Gadsby, who slammed the special, “is not funny.”

And because no one is interested in his film, Chappelle said he will make “it available” for everyone. He said people can see “this movie in its entirety” and “can see what they’re trying to obstruct you from seeing.”

“You can judge for yourself,” Dave added. “But you cannot have this conversation and exclude my voice from it, that is only fair. You have to answer the question am I canceled or not. Let’s go. Thank you very much and goodnight.”