Dave Chappelle did exactly what he said he wouldn’t do in his new Netflix special: make fun of trans people.
Although his seventh special for Netflix, titled “The Dreamer,” begins with a fairly nostalgic look at his rise to fame, he turned course by telling a story about his visit to the set of “Man on the Moon” to meet Jim Carrey, one of his comedy idols.
“I wanted to meet Jim Carrey [who was method acting], but I had to pretend this n—a was Andy Kaufman. All afternoon,” he recalled during his show, which began streaming Sunday.
“I could look at him and I could see that he was Jim Carrey.”
He concluded, “Anyway, I say all that to say: That’s how trans people make me feel.”
Chappelle, 50, followed his story by promising not to speak about trans people after his past material got him in trouble for offending the LGBTQIA+ community and their allies.
“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,” he warned his audience.
“I’m not f—king with those people anymore. It wasn’t worth the trouble. I ain’t saying s—t about them.”
“Maybe three or four times tonight, but that’s it,” he continued. “I’m tired of talking about them.”
The “Chappelle’s Show” alum explained that he’s done talking about them because “people acted like [he] needed them to be funny.”
“Well, that’s ridiculous,” he remarked. “I don’t need you. I got a whole new angle coming.”
“You guys will never see this s—t coming. I ain’t doing trans jokes no more.”
However, he proudly announced he would now start poking fun at the handicapped community because “they’re not as organized as the gays.”
“And I love punching down,” he stated.
Not too long after, Chappelle switched back to speaking about the transgender community by explaining how he tried patching up his relationship with them.
“I wrote a play. I did. ‘Cause I know that gays love plays,” he revealed.
Describing it as a “sad” but “moving” play, he continued, “It’s about a black transgender woman whose pronoun is sadly n—a. It’s a tear-jerker.”
“‘I’m a girl, just like you, bitch. Come here and suck this girl d—k I got,'” he envisioned himself demanding.
“‘Don’t make me explain myself. I’m a girl.'”
To top things off, the “A Star Is Born” actor recalled getting attacked onstage at the Hollywood Bowl in 2022 by a person with a fake gun that housed a real knife.
He joked that the knife “identified as a gun” and he “triggered” the assailant by bringing up the LGBTQIA+ community.
He found out his attacker was bisexual and also joked that he “could have been raped.”
The Netflix special, which was shot in Chappelle’s hometown of Washington D.C., was met with great criticism from allies of the LGBTQIA+ community, with one person taking to social media to call him a “pathetic a—hole,” while another called his performance “another s—y stand-up special.”
Chappelle has received strong backlash over the past few years for his material about the LGBTQIA+ community.
His 2021 Netflix special, “The Closer,” resulted in protests and Netflix employees walking out over his offensive remarks.
Last year, he was also accused of normalizing anti-semitism during his “Saturday Night Live” hosting gig in November.
