Dave Chappelle is upset at the GOP for using his jokes about transgender jokes in their campaigns.
”I did resent that the Republican Party ran on transgender jokes,” Chappelle said on NPR’s Newsmakers podcast on Wednesday. “You know, I felt like they were doing a weaponized version of what I was doing. That’s not what I was doing.”
Chappelle then recalled meeting and taking a photo with Rep. Lauren Boebert in Washington, D.C.
“I was on Capitol Hill, and everybody ran up to take pictures with me from every congressional office/ I just take pictures with whoever asked. I didn’t ask how they vote or what their voting record is,” Chappelle said.
“Then here comes [Republican representative] Lauren Boebert, and she said, ‘Can I get a picture?’ And I had already taken 40 pictures. I didn’t want to say no in front of everybody, but I didn’t know the phrase ‘I respectfully decline.’ So I just took the picture.”
“She posted the picture before I could even get from there to the show and says something to the effect of, ‘Just two people that know that it’s just two genders,’” he continued. “Just instantly, like, weaponized or politicized [it]. So I got to the arena, and I lit her ass up for doing that. And she should never do that to a person like me. You do whatever it is you do, but don’t — get me out of the splash zone…”
In recent specials, Chappelle has focused much of his material on the transgender community—most notably in The Closer (2021) and The Dreamer (2024). He was accused of “punching down” and fostering a climate of harm. Critics argue that his routines, which include self-identifying as “Team TERF,” a trans-exclusionary radical feminist movement, are problematic.
NETFLIX BACKS CHAPPELLE
Ted Sarandos, Netflix co-CEO, defended Chappelle in two separate memos to Netflix staff.
“We don’t allow titles on Netflix that are designed to incite hate or violence, and we don’t believe The Closer crosses that line,” Sarandos said.