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.
I agree with the latter, but I also think we should care, depending on the context obviously, if a comedian is being offensive- when they are getting the sort of money and exposure Netflix gives.
I would suggest that most people here, me included, would care if Netflix gave a white Trump-voting racist and misogynist a Netflix special in order to spread their hateful views in the guise of comedy.
What I am saying is that there is offensive comedy and then there is being offensive under the guise of comedy. What Richard Pryor did was offensive comedy. It was offensive without punching down, which is why it’s still so funny. The thing is- that takes a lot more work.