How an Unconventional Comedy Genius Defied Censorship but Broke One Sacred Rule.

Everything is funny until it happens to you.

Photo By John Bauld: Public Domain

Isn’t it ironic?

People “offended” by Dave Chappelle’s controversial jokes are the upper-class woke brigade.

They’re convinced he’s crossed the line of no return.

Chappelle, who lied about his age at 14 to get into comedy clubs, once used his talent to make people laugh as a coping mechanism against school bullying. Esquire and Rollingstone now recognise him as a “comic genius of America.”

At his career high, he vanished for ten years in exile.

Dave Chappelle describes it as a “clumsy dismount” but “didn’t like the direction of the Chappelle Show”, so he moved to my home country of South Africa, which, before going AWOL, meant walking away from a deal worth $50 million.

Dave Chappelle felt a lot of resistance to his jokes and views of the world, so he “wanted to take a minute and pull a Flintstone — stop the speeding car by using my bare feet as the brakes”.

In hindsight, the timing couldn’t have been any better.

As social media matured, comedians saw their old jokes unearthed like relics from a pharaoh’s tomb and were publicly lynched by the cancel mob.

Chappelle maintains he’s not trying to be mean; he’s just trying to be funny but finds modern-day people impossible to please, and he hilariously describes the mindset of the cancel culture warrior.

Dave Chappell — Source

“uh duh, hey there, if you do anything wrong in your life, duh, and I find out about it, I’m gonna try to take everything away from you, and I don’t care what I find out could be today, tomorrow 15, 20 years from now, if I find out you’re f**king, duh, finished.”

A member of the audience shouts, “Who’s that?”.

Dave Chappelle: “Who’s that? That’s you.

That’s what the audience sounds like to me; that’s why I don’t be coming out doing Comedy all the time cause y’all n-word are the worst n-word I’ve ever tried to entertain in my f**king life”.

His return raised hell.

The part of Chappelle’s genius is that he offends people with uncomfortable truths.

He goes to the heart of divisive issues with a seemingly “I don’t give a f**k” attitude, and his core audience respect him for it.

In his recent show, Chapelle brings up his fractured relationship with the LGBTQ+ community by adding new material to the bonfire.

David Chappelle — Source

“I am not saying that trans women aren’t women; I am just saying that those pu**ys they got are beyond pu**y.

It might taste like pu**y, but that’s not quite what it is, is it? It’s not blood that’s beet juice.

You guys got to remember I’m not saying it to be mean; I’m saying it because it’s funny, and everything’s funny until it happens to you.”

Netflix bought Chappelle’s show The Closer for $24 million, which, when it premiered on the platform, caused mass outrage and humungous viewership.

It went down with the LGBTQ+ community like one of Elon’s failed rockets.

When staff at Netflix showed exception about the release of the special comedy show, CEO Ted Sarandos suspended a trans employee for leaking information to the press and had the attitude of, suck it up; we’re an entertainment company, not some glorified activist organisation.

He later apologised for his insensitivity.

Chappelle is becoming less surprised by the criticism he faces but says rather sheepishly that he uses it to educate himself about other people’s points of view, even if he disagrees with their view of the world.

The sacred rule of Comedy.

Not everyone is buying Chappelle’s unapologetic attitude to Comedy.

Culture writer Aja Romano, who goes by the pronouns “they” and “them”, says Chappelle’s view of the trans community being overly sensitive is hypocritical.

“They” say that he points out that trans views come with a dose of “white fragility” and that Chappelle “prioritises the pain of Black communities over those of trans communities as if they are entirely separate”.

Romano says Chappelle should know better.

“He’s hyper-aware, as a comedian who frequently uses humour to make points about racial and social justice, that Comedy impacts the real world.

Chappelle completely killed his own hit comedy show, the legendary Chappelle’s Show, because of one joke that made him realise, according to an interview, that rather than critiquing racist Comedy, he might instead be reinforcing racist stereotypes for white audiences who were enjoying the joke unironically”.

People now also believe Dave Chappelle has broken the one sacred rule of Comedy: Never “Punch Down”.

“Punching down” refers to making jokes targeting marginalised, vulnerable, or disadvantaged groups. Instead, Comedy that engages aims to punch up, targetting people in positions of privilege and power. Or even be self-deprecating.

Unless you make a more profound point, you’ll alienate your audience, and they’ll find it “offensive”.

One study reveals alarming rates of mistreatment within the trans community, unrelated to Chappelle’s Comedy, but highlights its sensitivity.

In the past year, 46% faced verbal harassment for being trans, and 9% experienced physical attacks.

According to the study, over their lifetimes, 47% of trans people will endure sexual assault, with 10% facing it in the last year.

As a result of unsupportive families, you are 54% likely to attempt suicide and 45% likely to experience homelessness.

54% experienced intimate partner violence, and 24% endured severe physical violence from partners, higher than the U.S. average (18%).

As a result of homelessness, the issues compound because, from the 45% homeless rate, 72% revert to sex work, which is linked to further rates of sexual assault.

Source

Two jokes that drove people insane.

Chappelle speaks about things that should be controversial, but when you strip the layers of his jokes away, it becomes common sense.

He structures his Comedy on tropes or narratives that aim at absurdities, where he presents highly irrational, illogical, or surreal situations. But they’re everyday life examples.

He says, “Take that white, black b*tch” who’s in the news all the time, Rachel Dolezal”.

Dolezal is a white woman who now identifies as African American; as a kid, she used to draw portraits of herself with Brown Crayons and black curly hair instead of Peach Crayons.

Chappelle says he wants to meet her and have dinner to call her an n-word to her face, LOL. He has no idea what she’s talking about but thinks it’s “trans talk”.

Except he believes trans people, even though he doesn’t understand them either, “I understand they mean what they say, they cut their d*cks off, that’s all the proof I need, I’ve never seen somebody throw they d*ck away, like, don’t need it.”

Lol.

He didn’t stop there.

Possibly his most viral joke during the skit featured Lebron James, which Donald Trump then used as material during his rally.

Dave Chappelle — Source

“Let’s say LeBron James changed his gender; okay, can he stay in the NBA? Or because he’s a woman, does he have to go to the WNBA, where he’ll score 840 points a game?

What does it actually mean to be equal? We’re not. I mean, if women are actually equal to men, then there would be no WNBA, would there?

You would just be good enough to play in the NBA with us.

Or here’s another idea that’s gonna be very controversial.

You could….just shut the f**k up.”

Final Thoughts

My favourite line stolen from Jordan Peterson encapsulates my thoughts: “In order to think, you have to risk being offensive”.

In other words, by having your own view of the world, you’re going to upset people.

Comedy’s purpose is to make fun of closely held beliefs and make the subject of whatever the performer is speaking about look silly.

It’s true what Chappelle says; “It’s only funny when it’s not about you”.

Over the years, I’ve laughed at hours of his comedy footage, but I may not have had the same reaction if he made jokes about someone losing their mother, given that was my lived experience.

I wouldn’t be offended; I’d turn the channel over.

I belong to the passionate camp of people who believe in free speech as long as it doesn’t promote hate or pose an immediate threat.

Other Comedians like Rowan Atkinson, who famously played Mr Bean, has said, “Freedom to criticise ideas — any ideas even if they are sincerely held beliefs — it’s one of the fundamental freedoms of society”.

As a society, we’ve become as sensitive as a raw nerve regarding other people’s ideas.

It represses speech because it makes it difficult for people to express their thoughts for fear of being scolded.

Or worse, cancelled.

Atkinson says, “The best way to increase society’s resistance to offensive speech is to allow a lot more of it”.

Because who is the judge and jury of what is offensive and what is not?

Cancel culture thrives on public lynchings, demanding the world comprehensively understand people’s identity issues.

They can’t and won’t.

I also can’t entirely agree with everything Chappelle says, like how he diverts his attention to it being a white issue and white people exercising white privilege.

No, he’s making fun of the Trans community, which includes non-whites.

People say he broke the so-called cardinal rule of Comedy, “punching down” on a community.

He punched sideways and spoke his mind, and I sure as heck stand up for his right to say it.

On that stage, in front of the entire world, as many damn times as he pleases and without a trace of fear of losing his livelihood.

It’s a message worth paying attention to.

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