Source: Courtesy of Netflix / Dave Chappelle: The Dreamer
latest Netflix stand-up special has some people wondering if the legendary comedian has run out of material.
The latest stand-up special,
The Dreamer, arrived on Netflix on December 31, looking to give fans of Chappelle some much-needed laughs before 2023, but instead blessed himself with more controversy for 2024.
The special focuses on Chappelle’s early career, but some viewers were not happy about him focusing on what seems to be his
favorite punching bag, the Transgender community.
Time For Some New Material?
Chappelle wasn’t done using his gift for comedy to take swipes at the Transgender community. During the opening of The Dreamer, the comedian/actor used 12 minutes of the special to continue what many are calling “obsession” with trans people.
Love Hip-Hop Wired? Get more! Join the Hip-Hop Wired Newsletter
We care about your data. See our privacy policy.
He cleverly took a shot at the Transgender community by telling a story about the time he met Jim Carrey on the set of the 1999 film
Man on the Moon.
To pull off his inspired performance of Andy Kauffman, Carrey went deep into his method acting bag, so deep that when Chappelle met him, he felt “very disappointed” because he met Kauffman instead of Carrey adding that “That’s how trans people make me feel.”
Chappelle wasn’t done. He continued, “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. 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.”
The jokes continued with Chappelle saying that he was going to joke about the “handicapped” because “they’re not as organized as the gays. And I love punching down.”
The Obsession Is Real
But wait, there’s more. Just a few minutes later into the special, he went back to the Transgender topic, adding: “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.”
He continued, “God forbid I ever go to jail. But if I do, I hope it’s in California. Soon as the judge sentences me, I’ll be like, ‘Before you sentence me, I want the court to know I identify as a woman. Send me to a woman’s jail.’ As soon I get in there, you know what I’mma be doing. ‘Give me your fruit cocktail, b—-, before I knock your motherf—— teeth out. I’m a girl, just like you, b—-. Come here and suck this girl d— I got. Don’t make me explain myself. I’m a girl.’
Jokes About The Hollywood Bowl Attack
Chappelle even touched on the
2022 Hollywood Bowl attack later on special, where an assailant tried to gut him with a replica gun with a knife blade.
He joked that he tried to defuse the situation with a joke saying, “It was a trans man!” pointing out that it didn’t go over with many in the audience saying, “‘Boo. It’s L.A., we like trans people.'”
The Trans jokes continued with Chappelle saying he “had a knife that identified as a gun,” adding, “I triggered them because I had done LBGTQ [sic] jokes and it turns out this fella was a ‘B.'”
He continued that “he could have been raped” because of the fact his attacker was bisexual.
Chappelle’s jokes have become the talk of X, formerly Twitter, with users calling him for his obsession while others are defending his style of comedy.
You can see those reactions in the gallery below.
—
Photo: Courtesy of Netflix / Dave Chappelle: The Dreamer
