Dave Chappelle’s The Closer controversy (revolving around his re-upped trans jokes and declaring himself “Team TERF”) never really saw a resolution. Chappelle’s last input on the situation involved him asking people to vote (on whether his alma mater should name a theater after him) with their dollars or “shut the f*ck up forever.” This happened after high schoolers booed him during a surprise visit, and regardless, the school will still go ahead with the renaming.
On the newest edition of 60 Minutes, The Daily Show host Trevor Noah spoke with Leslie Stahl about the Chappelle issue, and he’s reluctant to take a side because, as Noah stated, it’s a very complex issue. “Did Dave Chappelle cross the line?” Noah asked. “Yes, no. It immediately puts me in a position where I have to choose a side when I think that the matter is a lot more complex than that. I think everybody is defining the line for themselves.”
Comedian Dave Chappelle recently sparked outrage, and also support, for his latest Netflix comedy special.
Asked if Chappelle crossed a line, Trevor Noah says: “[The] matter is a lot more complex than that” for him and for many Americans.https://t.co/ExiER6d2yQ pic.twitter.com/zeqG01BAVB
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) December 20, 2021
Stahl countered that “society defines the line,” and Noah respectfully pushed back while elaborating on how “there is no line”:
“But America is clearly divided in that half of society has gone like, ‘No, Dave Chappelle, we love what you said. We’re sick of wokeness. We’re sick of people being told what to say. We’re sick of not knowing how to use the right pronoun. You’re right, Dave Chappelle.’ So then if half of society is saying Dave Chappelle is right and half of society is saying that he’s wrong, then that means there is no line. It means society is seeing the line from two different sides. And so that’s why I say you cannot say did he cross the line because which side are you looking at the line from defines whether or not he crossed it.”
Noah’s take is a nuanced one, and one would hope that Chappelle is, at the very least, listening to him. Meanwhile, Chappelle will team up with Netflix again for a comedy festival, so that’s kept the conversation going, including from Wil Wheaton, who penned a heartbreaking essay about why the comedian’s trans jokes do real harm.
(Via CBS News)
