Dave Chappelle Mocks Cancel Culture at Celebrity-Packed Screening Event

Dave Chappelle was greeted with a standing ovation from his fellow celebrities during the screening of his Untitled: Dave Chappelle Documentary, despite the recent controversy over his Netflix stand-up comedy special, The Closer. The comedian has received criticism about the special, which some critics say contains transphobic material.

“If this is what being canceled is like, I love it,” he said on Thursday night at the Hollywood Bowl, The Hollywood Reporter reports. He also went further, calling out specific outlets during the night: “Fuck Twitter. Fuck NBC News, ABC News, all these stupid ass networks. I’m not talking to them. I’m talking to you. This is real life.”

One of Chappelle’s offending lines in The Closer is: “Gender is a fact. Every human being in this room, every human being on Earth, had to pass through the legs of a woman to be on Earth. That is a fact.” In the special, Chappelle also waded into the controversy surrounding DaBaby, who was criticized for his homophobic remarks at the Rolling Loud festival and subsequently removed from several festival dates. Chappelle said that he wanted to “negotiate the release of DaBaby” with the LGBTQ community. He then went on to question why DaBaby was canceled for his homophobic comments rather than for shooting a man in the past.

“Dave Chappelle’s brand has become synonymous with ridiculing trans people and other marginalized communities,” GLAAD posted on Twitter. “Negative reviews and viewers loudly condemning his latest special is a message to the industry that audiences don’t support platforming anti-LGBTQ diatribes. We agree.”