Netflix urged to take down Dave Chapelle’s show after accusations of ‘anti-LGBT diatribes’

Thanks, @lilmishap. That's very helpful.

"‘Careful, they after you’, a friend said to him regarding his gags about trans people. ‘One they or many theys?’, Chappelle replied."

This was an absolutely brilliant line, I agree.

And also, I agree with everyone saying that it is important that this has entered the mainstream of comedy. I have been really disappointed at Bill Maher, skirting around the trans issue for years now, when he has always been virulently anti religious zealotry/cult like thinking, anti political correctness and anti cancel culture. He's starting to talk about it a bit now, but is still pretty cagey. I know he admires DC a lot, so I wonder if the TRA calls for Netflix to ban him will come up on Real Time this Friday, and he'll actually address the matter forthrightly.

Like others have said it's clear he doesn't 'get' all the arguments that women put forward or why using gender when you mean sex makes things confusing but I'm not too bothered about that. I doubt Dave reads Mumsnet FWR.

What is important is that him talking about it means it's mainstream enough so the whole audience will have a fair idea of what he's talking about.

Also as the alleged GOAT of comedy he's giving the message to other comedians that TRA stuff is as fair game as anything else to take the piss out of.

Now obviously there is a line between piss taking and cruelty but in comedy that is constructed cleverly there shouldn't be any sacred castes.

It's why the they/theys joke was funny because individual people aside there's a lot batshittery in gender ideology itself just as in any religion or belief system. Remember this is the movement that gave us clownfish, hoarding dinosaurs and seeing into people's souls. Much of it is just begging to have the piss taken just as comedians have done for years with things like catholicism.

Good, intelligent comedy that deconstructs ideas is really valuable in society and encourages critical thought. Whether anyone thinks Dave or any other specific comedian is good or intelligent comes down to personal preference but humour and satire overall is something worth having on a societal level. I don't think scared comedians can be good comedians.

Brendan O Neills take on it on Spiked is very good

www.spiked-online.com/2021/10/08/brendan-on-dave-chapelle/

and this bit made me laugh the most and shows how on the ball Chappelle is:

"‘Careful, they after you’, a friend said to him regarding his gags about trans people. ‘One they or many theys?’, Chappelle replied."

I watched this last night. It's not the sort of comedy I would usually watch and had never seen him before. I couldn't identify him as a person with sympathy towards women, with the frequent use of "bitch" and the description of fighting a lesbian over her girlfriend. The bit about supporting JK Rowling and women not liking transwomen because they're in "blackface" was brief and missed the main point. And none of it made me laugh.
I look forward to seeing Ricky Gervais's take on this....

I think he was being quite reserved so it could be shown as there was a moment when he talked about the TRAs and you could tell from his tone that he was being nicer than he wanted to be about them.

The story about Daphne was so sad

It must be crushing to find a supportive and potentially’life saving’ community who then turn on you for a pathetic reason

People have no concept of nuance now. They quote his 'team TERF' statement without considering the wider context of his set.
The story about Daphne was so sad. Daphne had defended DC online, had said that she personally knew him and that he was a decent sort and as a result got piled on by the TRA (who like to put the boot in while claiming victim status). DC said that maybe this extended online bullying contributed to Daphne's suicide.

I saw his special yesterday. Never seen him before. I thought he was actually quite sympathetic to the struggles of individuals while at the same time critical of how the TRA claim to be beaten down on, yet simultaneously attack/try to cancel anyone who doesn't share their world view. I think he was highlighting some of the hypocrisy.
I don't think he entirely gets it, not the safety angles anyway, but I like that he was willing to put himself out there and defend JKR.
There were elements of his set that I found uncomfortable - the beating a woman parts but comedy has to be free and uncensored and it's up to people to decide for themselves what they want to support and watch. It's also not real - just because someone says something highly offensive it doesn't actually follow that they really believe it or that they would behave that way irl.

Well I have to watch it now. Best way to support is to get the viewing figures up.

Watching tonight, but I don't really mind if he doesn't get all the issues. He's a comic doing a set, not a philosopher or politician setting out an argument. I am happy that people in the public eye, who will have known they will be railed against for saying so, are standing up and saying No, TW are not W, and I won't say that they are. It's the little boy saying the emperor is naked.

A question to those who watched Chapelle's show - was the 'diatribe' aimed at LGB or just T?

I'm watching it now.

Can't wait for Ricky Gervais one too!

I'd never actually heard of him before but had a watch last night. He isn't my cup of tea BUT he talked about IT....that's a momentous thing and for that he gets a gold star!

He's touring over here in London in two weeks I'm booked to see him so I'll wait to hear it all then, always been a big fan.

I watched it. I dont think he gets it really but its hardly cancel material. He didn't make his stance particularly clear tbh I think he mamged to do it without "picking a side" so to speak.

If they pull it , they've just proved his point for him. That no one actually reads or listens to what's being said.

Comedians take the piss out of people it's what they do. If u r easily offended don't watch them..take that personal responsibility of not watching people likely to wind u up .

I dont watch frankie boyle for that reason. I take responsibility for my viewing.

Not least because it means they believe it's a subject their audience will understand. It means it is mainstream.

Good point. Hadn’t considered exactly that aspect, but it really does indicate this is a huge public debate that is now happening, which is something we have wanted for a long time.

If comedians are starting to laugh at what’s happening (mainly regarding the extremity of where we are currently) then that means things are really moving.

Not least because it means they believe it's a subject their audience will understand. It means it is mainstream.

I have only watched a tiny clip, not the whole, and I get why some of you on this thread are dissatisfied, but I think this is huge. If comedians are starting to laugh at what’s happening (mainly regarding the extremity of where we are currently) then that means things are really moving.

If Ricky Gervais is finally jumping in with both feet (as opposed to his previous tinkering on the edges) then so much the better. And both these men are in the untouchable class, so they will be impossible to cancel.

So I don’t really care that Chapelle doesn’t really fully get every nuance. He’s huge in the US where this stuff has a much stronger hold on the population than in the UK. I’m glad he said it. It indicates that the shift we have sometimes felt is happening, really is, even if there’s still a long way to go because this stuff is so embedded.

Hmm, I watched it this evening (and also wouldn't have otherwise). I'd say he does not get what women are primarily worried about (safeguarding) - as pp have mentioned, the bathroom joke shows he didn't get it. He comes at it from the privilege angle - the celebration of LGBTQ+ in ways that black people never have been; the acceptability of woman face when black face is not. And also the tribal element involved - how they will turn on their own the second they "transgress", and how a friendship can form if you put the preconceptions and tribalism aside. I don't know though. I don't find him particularly funny, and it's all about his ego and reputation, which I find just boring.

I can’t see me watching it but good on him. Finally some new comedy material for everyone that’s not Karen’s and women generally as the only fair game left. (it’s a good thing racist anti Semitic anti gay jokes are not cool, I just wish beating on women wasnt either!)

We're upset because it's a full safeguarding issue! Because sexual predators sit next to little girls in a spa and little girls get called bigots for not wanting to see a semi erect penis in women's spaces. We're mad because for every time someone says It Never Happens, guess what, it happens.

This is it. And he doesn't get it. He characterises the "bathroom bills" as a huge injustice and falls back on the trope of a passing trans woman being forced to use the men's room when that's not what the issue is at all.

I love Dave Chapelle and he makes some fantastic points within his jokes. I particularly liked the bits where he spoke about his jealousy of the trans ‘movement’ in relation to being a black man.
And when he compared trans women to white people wearing blackface, I shouted ‘yes!’ at the screen.