Dave Chappelle, a comedian, has upset many people because he joked about transgender individuals for 12 minutes in his new Netflix show.
His show, "The Dreamer," started on Netflix on December 31. It was special for him because he performed in the same theater where he first started.
The show mainly talks about his early dreams and how he became successful. But, at the beginning of the show, he talked about transgender people. This follows previous times where he was criticized for making jokes about them in his other Netflix specials.
"I love punching down," he said before pointing out he was going to stay away from transgender jokes because they weren't "worth the trouble."
"If you guys came here to this show tonight thinking that I'm going to make fun of those people again, you've come to the wrong show. I'm not f*** with those people anymore. It wasn't worth the trouble. I ain't saying s about them," Chappelle said.
"Maybe three or four times tonight, but that's it. I'm tired of talking about them. And you want to know why I'm tired of talking about them? Because these people acted like I needed them to be funny. Well, that's ridiculous. I don't need you. I got a whole new angle coming. You guys will never see this s*** coming. I ain't doing trans jokes no more."
Dave Chappelle said in his show that he would now make jokes about people with disabilities instead of gay people. He joked that people with disabilities are not as united as gay people and that he enjoys making fun of those who are seen as weaker.
"To be honest with you, I've been trying to repair my relationship with the transgender community cause I don't want them to think that I don't like them. You know how I've been repairing it? I wrote a play. I did. Cause I know that gays love plays.
"It's a very sad play, but it's moving. It's about a Black transgender woman whose pronoun is, sadly, n*****. It's a tear-jerker. At the end of the play she dies of loneliness cause white liberals don't know how to speak to her. It's sad," Chappelle joked.
In 2021, Dave Chappelle's Netflix show "The Closer" caused some Netflix employees to protest. They said the show had jokes that were harmful to transgender people. Later, in another Netflix show, Chappelle talked about this. He said that the students who didn't like his jokes were actually causing harm themselves.