Jon Stewart’s giving Dave Chappelle the benefit of the doubt following the comedian’s trans jokes in Netflix’s The Closer. That’s perhaps a controversial stance to take on top of an already existing controversy, weeks after Chappelle addressed the matter onstage, declaring that he was perfectly cool with being “canceled,” and in fact, “I love it.” The whole mess began when Chappelle declared that he was “Team TERF” and standing in solidarity with J.K. Rowling’s own TERF-aligned remarks. He added, “Gender is a fact,” and he also defended DaBaby’s related comments, too.
This led to Netflix backing Chappelle with CEO Ted Sarandos claiming that “content on screen doesn’t directly translate to real-world harm.” Then came this week’s employee walkout to protest Netflix’s handling of the situation (the organizer of the walkout has been fired for leaking metrics) with Netflix offering up an apologetic statement and Chappelle’s team signaling that he was open to sitting down with those employees who staged the walkout, although there are no current plans for this to happen.
TMZ is now reporting that Jon Stewart is stepping up to defend his friend, and he believes that Chappelle didn’t make any of his transphobic remarks for “hurtful” reasons. Via TMZ, here’s what Stewart said:
We got Jon as he was leaving Capitol Hill, and asked for his take on the beef between Chappelle and Netflix employees who staged a walkout Wednesday. Jon thinks there’s clearly been a miscommunication, and seemed confident both sides will squash the feud … once they start talking.
The reason he’s confident? Well, Jon — who, ICYMI, is a close friend of Dave’s — says, “I know his intention is never hurtful. He’s not that kinda person.”
That’s a tough stance to take there. Chappelle made remarks that have hurt a lot of people. He hasn’t expressed remorse, and in fact, he celebrated being “cancelled.” In other words, this subject isn’t over yet, and those jokes in The Closer will have to be addressed in a more substantial manner by Chappelle if he truly wants to make amends. Granted, we’re talking about Stewart’s words at the moment, not a true followup from Chappelle, but any suggestion that those who were hurt maybe shouldn’t feel hurt (because Dave isn’t a “hurtful” person, as Stewart put it) won’t remedy the situation.
(Via TMZ)
