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.
No one is really arguing whether he’s funny or not. I think most are trying to point out that even if a person is ‘just joking’, telling racist, bigoted, etc jokes, it can encourage that sort of attitude and normalize bigotry in general, especially if you already have a massive platform, and to deny that is just ridiculous.