Dave Chappelle has lashed out at the Republican Party for campaigning on “transgender jokes,” which he said felt like a “weaponized version of what I was doing.”
The controversial comedian, 52 — who has in recent years courted heavy criticism for making jokes about the transgender community in several of his stand-up specials — spoke out against the party’s attempt to align itself with him and his material to support its anti-trans agenda.
“I did resent that the Republican Party ran on transgender jokes. You know, I felt like they were doing a weaponized version of what I was doing. That’s not what I was doing,” Chappelle said on a recent appearance on NPR’s Newsmakers podcast.
He recalled an instance when he was on Capitol Hill for a show and was bombarded with requests for pictures by lawmakers from “every congressional office.” Noting that at the time he had not yet learned the phrase, “I respectfully decline,” he said he took “pictures with whoever asked. I didn’t ask how they vote or what their voting record is.”
“At first, it was CBC people,” Chappelle explained. “Then here comes 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. And then 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 added of the Republican representative from Colorado.
“Just instantly, like, weaponized or politicized. 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.”
The Independent has contacted Boebert’s representative for comment.
In 2021, Chappelle came under fire for his Netflix special The Closer, with critics accusing him of making “transphobic” remarks, including saying he was “Team TERF,” referring to trans-exclusionary radical feminists. Civil rights advocacy group the National Black Justice Coalition called on Netflix to remove the special from its catalog.
Despite the controversy, the special went on to win the Grammy for Best Comedy Album in 2023.
“I’m not even mad [people] take issue with my work. Good, fine. Who cares?” Chappelle said on a 2023 episode of his The Midnight Miracle podcast.
“What I take issue with is the idea that because they don’t like it, I’m not allowed to say it. Art is a nuanced endeavor. I have a belief that they are trying to take the nuance out of speech in American culture, that they’re making people speak as if they’re either on the right or the left,” he continued.
“Everything seems absolute, and any opinion I respect is way more nuanced than these binary choices they keep putting in front of us. I don’t see the world in red or blue.”
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