Dave Chappelle is a Thinker, and Transphobic People are Not Thinkers

It is not often that I am more moved than entertained by a stand-up comedy performance. This is the feeling I get from Dave Chappelle’s The Closer. It was also, in fact, my first time watching Dave Chappelle. Yet, it took only one show to convince me that Chappelle is a master of his craft. Though he has been a controversial figure in the past few months, he ultimately strikes me as a deep thinker who has a talent in comedy. There are a few notable examples that stood out to me from the show that illustrate this:

• Chappelle talks about the controversy with DaBaby, and wonders why the rapper was cancelled for making disparaging remarks about the LGBTQ community but not for killing a man at a Walmart in Huntersville.
  

• Chappelle makes an interesting comparison between the LGBTQ movement and the Black movement. He says, “We Blacks, we look at the gay community and we go “God damn it! Look how well that movement is going.”
  

• Chappelle recounts an altercation he had in a bar with a gay man for filming him, who then called the police on Chappelle. He says that “Gay people are minorities, until they need to be White again.”
  

• Related to the Juneteeth holiday, Chapelle talks about a historical figured named William Ellison, a slave owner who was a former Black slave himself. He goes on to say, “How can a person that went through slavery perpetuate the same evil on a person that looks just like him?”
  

• For almost one-third of the show, Chappelle recounts several heartfelt stories with his late friend, Daphne Dwarman, who was a trans comedian.

In between these poignant subject matters, there were times when I couldn’t help but laugh. The balance between sincerity and humour was beautiful. It reflects a tremendous amount of creative thought that went into choosing the topics that drove me to think and smile at the same time. This type of comedy was a first for me, one that I initially thought was like mixing oil and water. Yet, I personally enjoyed this duality. However, I also recognize that the way Chappelle has treated such serious topics with real-world gravity in The Closer has not received the best kind of attention over the last months. The issue of whether Chappelle "crossed the line" is more complicated than I thought. My review here does come from a biased perspective, in that I am not from the transgender community nor do I know what it is like to be a transgender. Addressing this topic requires considering both sides of the equation, and I hope to give my own input as someone from the another side. The question I asked myself throughout this writing is could comedy and political sensitivity find a resolution, and if so, how?

I think comedy is the most difficult genre to master. Jokes either succeeds or falls disastrously flat, and is completely at the mercy of the socio-political environment. Even one of the greatest directors, Christopher Nolan, has said he would never step into comedy in this article. Comedians feel restricted in their creative expression and what they can provide to consumers. On the other hand, I can understand that their expressions can come off as insensitive to some, who are staunchly standing up for their rights, as they must. My stance is that there can be a happy medium: where creative expression is respectful and where the audience knows when or when not to laugh. I do think Chappelle and his critics have a common ground, which is to dispel real bigotry against the transgender community, whether they both realize it or not. But if Chappelle were to be cancelled for The Closer, it would be a grave misunderstanding of his style of humour. I do not think Chappelle is a bigot nor insensitive. Maybe he does believe gender is a biological fact or make funny jokes on it, but that did not necessarily make him transphobic on stage. Instead, the part of Chappelle that etched my memory more what his heartfelt stories with Daphne and warm attitude towards transgender individuals. Though I don’t claim that this is proof of innocence, I can’t see a sincere and thoughtful who is just trying to create smiles like Chappelle being a real menace to society that his critics try to paint him as. Chappelle has his own beliefs, but he is also accepting towards those who are unique. His late friend Daphne said it best: “Punching down on someone requires you to think less of them and I know him and he doesn’t punch up, he doesn’t punch down. He punches lines and he is a master of his craft.”

I ultimately want to say that it is up to us as the audience to be able to carefully interpret these jokes. This is unusual to me, because our natural reaction to a joke is to laugh rather than ponder. But this is Chapelle’s comedic style, one that is more pensive than vulgar or silly. We can choose to laugh, violently react, or let the comments drive our bigotry. But critical thinking will help us make the right decision, and kindness will let us help others do the same. Dave Chappelle is just an easy target. A real transphobic person is who we as society need to engage with. But how? To answer this, I am reminded of Daryl Davis, a black musician who has helped some KKK members renounce their hatred. His story shows me that meaningful changes start with a conversation. We let them say those awful things, but we also muster enough empathy and patience to also talk to them and help them understand why they are awful without being dismissive. Eventually, a conversation could evolve into friendship and hopefully into meaningful changes in social discourse. I believe this is the message echoed by Chappelle as well when he says, “Empathy is not gay. Empathy is not black. Empathy is bisexual — it must go both ways”.

Chappelle being open to a conversation with his critics after all the backlash speaks to a certain level of bravery that I hope we can emulate. In the end, I think finding a resolution between comedy and political sensitivity starts with earnest conversations and accepting that these will also be uncomfortable, frustrating interactions. It seems that showing solidarity during sensitive issues is more complicated than saying "you are either with us, or against us". Maybe it is about giving an honest effort to think about these issues and talk about them with different people. So all I ask my friends and readers is to give it a fair chance and your own open mind. Please don’t be influenced by Twitter or the media. Please don’t bring an agenda and look for things to immediately criticize. With Netflix, I find that the luxury of a few rewinds or pauses was all it took for me to understand the jokes well, instead of being swept away by mindless laughter. Under the veil of a jester, Chappelle is a thinker. He would want us to think for ourselves too, and be in a position of reflection before reaction. I hope that society find a resolution, so that we can all laugh and share great times together, regardless of who we are as individuals.

I leave you with this intriguing quote from Duckman (1994):

“Sure, humor can hurt, even alienate. But the risk is better than the alternative: a steady diet of innocuous, childproof, flavorless mush. Demand to be challenged. To be offended. To be treated like thinking, reasoning adults. And raise your children to be the same. Don’t let a comedian, a network, a congressional committee, or an evil genius take away your freedom to laugh at whatever you want.”