Dave Chappelle has released a new Netflix special, The Dreamer, which is full of jokes about the trans community and disabled people.
“I love punching down!” he tells the audience, in a one-hour show that landed on the streaming service today (31 December).
It’s his seventh special for Netflix and comes two years after his last one, the highly controversial release The Closer.
That programme was criticised for its relentless jokes about the trans community, and Chappelle revisits the topic in his new show.
He tells jokes about trans women in prison, and about trans people “pretending” to be somebody they are not.
I’m pro trans but I do respect the first amendment. Be who you want to be. He has an audience who loves him… BUT… Hate should not be promoted in order to protect others… So I guess I’m mixed on this.
It is the first amendment which allows you to make your statement freely without fear of state-sponsored reprise.
Netflix offers choices for entertainment. I don’t like most of the content on Netflix, but I don’t think it should be canceled just because I dislike it.
The First Amendment shields you from government reprisal. It is not a shield from private critique or consequences.
Public cancellation or being cancelled by a sensitive sub section of the population threatens free speech.