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.
What kind of decent joke could a comedian tell that would encourage a person to shoot up a school or be a pedo? Jokes about marginalized groups help encourage othering of that group and normalizes bigotry. I’m not saying a person can’t joke about anything they want, but in a political climate where people are making historic pushes to persecute trans people I think it is a pretty massive dick move to fan the flames.