He of the deeply offensive transphobic and homophobic jokes, Dave Chappelle, will be performing at the ‘Netflix Is A Joke’ comedy festival, if you need any more proof that cancel culture doesn’t actually exist.
Earlier this year, Netflix backed its decision to keep Chappelle’s comedy special The Closer after it was criticised for belittling the gay and trans communities.
In case you missed it, Dave Chappelle at one point used his platform to declare himself “team TERF” (aka a Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist), as well as defending notorious transphobe/2000 rats in a skin suit J.K Rowling and homophobic rapper Da Baby.
Netflix’s co-CEO Ted Sarandos then defended the special, saying in an email seen by Variety that “while some employees disagree, we have a strong belief that content on screen doesn’t directly translate to real-world harm.”
The comments – and the special – were swiftly criticised by the queer community, who pointed out that trans people in particular already experience significant violence and harassment.
It also led to massive backlash from LGBTQIA+ Netflix employees, who hosted a number of walkouts.
At the time, Dave Chapelle criticised the criticism (the most 2021 sentence ever) as cancel culture, saying “thank god for Ted Sarandos and Netflix: he’s the only one that didn’t cancel me yet”.
And clearly, Chapelle was right: his appearance at the Netflix comedy festival is proof that being cancelled for transphobia isn’t enough to get you kicked off the festival circuit.
The festival itself – which was originally scheduled for 2020 – is a series of over 100 Los Angeles-based stand-up shows which will take place in April and May 022. Ironically, part of the festival will be a show called ‘Stand Out: An LGBTQ+ Celebration’ featuring Wanda Sykes and Fortune Feimster.
Interestingly, queer Aussie icon and loml Hannah Gadsby was slated for the festival when it was originally announced according to Deadline. The comedian, who previously spoke out about The Closer when it premiered, is no longer listed as one of the performers.
