Netflix has announced new Dave Chappelle projects despite his previous anti-trans comments.
On 18 February, the popular streamer announced that the comedian would be hosting four one-off comedy specials.
The series, which is titled Chappelle’s Home Team, will feature different comedians that the 48-year-old hand-picked.
Nathaniel Stroman, who goes by the stage name Earthquake, is set to be featured as the first release.
The news has been met with immediate backlash on social media, with many users calling out the streaming service.
One user wrote: “So glad the response to transphobic content, harassing trans members of their community, and telling the LGBTQIA community they’d do better next time was… let me check my notes here… Four more specials hosted by Dave Chappelle.”
Another user tweeted: “Look how CANCELLED Dave Chappelle is gosh aren’t we such bullies?”
Chappelle’s forthcoming specials come a few months after he made headlines for his transphobic comedy special, The Closer.
In the show, Chappelle declared himself a “TERF” after defending transphobic Harry Potter author JK Rowling.
“They cancelled J.K. Rowling — my god. [Effectively] she said gender was a fact, the trans community got mad as shit, they started calling her a TERF,” Chappelle said.
After making “jokes” about the bodies of trans women, he went on to say: “Gender is a fact. Every human being in this room, every human being on earth, had to pass through the legs of a woman to be on earth. That is a fact.”
The series faced immense backlash from critics and even pushed Netflix’s trans employees and allies to stage a company-wide walkout.
At the time, the streamer’s co-CEO Ted Sarandos defended Chappelle in a company-wide memo.
“Chappelle is one of the most popular stand-up comedians today, and we have a long standing deal with him,” he wrote.
“As with our other talent, we work hard to support their creative freedom — even though this means there will always be content on Netflix some people believe is harmful, like Cuties, 365 Days, 13 Reasons Why or My Unorthodox Life. Several of you have also asked where we draw the line on hate.
“We don’t allow titles on Netflix that are designed to incite hate or violence, and we don’t believe The Closer crosses that line. I recognise, however, that distinguishing between commentary and harm is hard, especially with stand-up comedy which exists to push boundaries.”
Shortly after the memo went public, Sarandos apologised for his “internal communication” during an interview with Variety.
“I did that, and I screwed it up in two ways. First and foremost, I should have led with a lot more humanity,” he said. “Meaning, I had a group of employees who were definitely feeling pain and hurt from a decision we made.
“And I think that needs to be acknowledged up front before you get into the nuts and bolts of anything. I didn’t do that… we landed with some things that were much more blanket and matter-of-fact that are not at all accurate.”
Latest
