Dave Chappelle is a TERF (trans-exclusionary radical feminist), which is basically an “anti-trans” movement and that’s just depressing. His idea seems to be that figuring out these historically already present, yet “new” representations in gender cut the line of fights for justice when we still haven’t fixed civilization to understand Black yet. White men, white women, white representation has always been at the forefront of “diversity” and I believe that is true. I think for a Black person to “represent” in the beginning, they must EXCEL far past the norm to be seen as “good” yet are given less opportunities to ‘figure things out’ like white people are (or whoever the U.S. deems white at the time). Regardless of all that, even if we can say his constant discussions on race and racial inequality is remarkable or unique or whatever, him openly saying he is a TERF is dangerous. He knows his popularity and celebrity, but it seems he truly doesn’t understand that he has power. He is in a position of power and he brings validity to others hate. So even if he could make a whole special listing and listing the number of problems with racism, he may forget to mention something, then as quickly as he finishes a sentence he is already being hated for not mentioning “X”. Criticizing the lack of that being there seems necessary for those who are in a category he feel that has been misrepresented or misused, yet at the same time to throw the whole “set” away seems deliberately deceitful. You stop listening and start looking for fault, regardless of content.
I am a huge fan of Chappelle’s body of work and the way he thinks, and I understand how that makes me sound after shittin on Kanye or Lil Wayne or Talib Kweli, but as a separate “thing”, in “comedy”, it came in moments that caused more critical thinking for me. Then it was later just Chappelle himself, a man who could have been swimming in money a long time ago and “disappeared”. Y’all remember that? When the full weight of the media told us he was on drugs and a just a crazy person in general? He said no to being bought, so they wanted him gone: career and all. Years of hearing people turn on him so easily when he was trying to understand his role in society as a Black entertainer, a thinker, and a keeper of his identity. He was the biggest thing ever and then just *poof*. When he came back, cautiously and reluctantly, he was obviously hulked out but different. The way he spoke was cautious, underlying something formulating; he came back when the world had begun to change. He was being recorded during practice sets and having parts of the set displayed, but not the whole. So he had a “no cell phone” thing when he started back up so people wouldn’t record him, then you’d just get “Dave Chappelle Goes Off On Woman” headlines or something. He was behind on a cultural shift, or he was ahead of the curve to reactionary behavior and didn’t like where we were headed. They don’t make peer review studies for comedy, just parts that were liked and not liked by critics. I mean, yes, those pieces do matter because there are still more things to understand about the impact of certain lines being crossed. Was the line being crossed part of the set or was it just a sad joke? Hard to tell sometimes. What I do is there is probably more research done on the comedic representation than appropriate understanding of the group being talked about, and what I mean is that there is comedy in ignorance, but not willful ignorance… if that makes sense.
Chappelle came back to being well received then slowly became dismissed for his constant comments about lgbtq culture, and rightfully so if people heard hate from his voice. I didn’t think he was before, I thought he was constantly speaking on “Why is everyone ‘accepting’ being human, but can’t stop seeing Black as human?”; wasn’t until he said he was a TERF that I just felt cheated? Betrayed would be the correct word because I wanted to be a stand up comedian. The first time I saw his special I felt like he made it seem easy or even possible. George Carlin (my all time) made me feel too dumb to try, Chappelle made me feel smart enough in different ways. To me they are both philosophers on a stage, the only difference to me is that George Carlin never got comfortable with capitalism. Dave Chappelle has made and earned a very nice living for himself, and can continue to do so, and with that comfort came an inability to look past what he already believed. We already know about the idea of identity in Black culture, yes? LGBTQ stuff is very shaky depending on your environment, family, all that… but it’s even more so about freedom of personal identity isn’t it? “Rules”, but not, about how to “act”; often jokingly, but it’s being watched by your peers if you aren’t coloring inside the lines. “White people music”, “acting soft”, “dressing like a boy”, “you sound like a white person”, these are ways of stifling independence. Some people can’t escape and some can because, you should already know this, those of us Blacks who are free to live in a way that is “irregular” and be comfortable in it are very fuckin lucky. And I don’t just mean Black LGBTQ, but the outsiders, the weirdos, the metalheads, the book nerds… to find a place that accepts you by nurturing and understanding your blackness AND your uniqueness is so fuckin hard. So, naturally, we bicker amongst ourselves over our categories rather than embrace the freedom of being Black and LIVING!
I guess this is a goodbye to a history for me with Dave Chappelle because I understand what he is trying (and failing) to say, but he essentially threw the Trans community under the bus while saying “I wish no harm on anyone”. He doesn’t understand how much power he truly has as a Black entertainer, or as a celebrity. He validates a form of bigotry by being a TERF and as a Black person, I firmly believe that you cannot watch the way your oppressor’s work and then regurgitate that hate back into your community. When will Black people be free AND allow other Black people to live freely? And I know he didn’t say to be violent and he said, if I remember, that he doesn’t condone any behavior of spreading hate to another human being… but just as the people who were offended didn’t like/watch his show, the same can be said for those who hate or are aggressive to the LGBTQ community; they could sit through his show, but find that part particularly validating. He asks a lot of others with this new special and I don’t think the trade-off was entirely even. He gets to go back to that comfortable life, he can sit back and ignore the media buzz about it because he said he’s done. Now we’re left to debate the ramblings of a man who at one time was understood, understood what was happening to him, being well-received initially after disappearing, and then not understood at all and by many, hated. 2020 has the highest death rate for Trans people, and 2021 is not far behind.
Sorry if it’s less detailed than you hoped or discombobulated, I don’t have an editor and I’m too perfectionist to look through my stuff.
Something With Nothing 