National Black Justice Coalition & GLAAD Want Netflix To Pull 'The Closer'

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Following the release of Dave Chappelle’s latest special with Netflix, The Closer, multiple different organizations are asking them to pull the stand-up from their streaming service.

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In the comedian’s latest special, he repeated the pattern created in his last few Netflix releases, touching on his thoughts about the trans and LGBTQ+ communities.

Among other things, at one point in his routine, Chappelle declares that “gender is a fact” and that “every human being on Earth had to pass through the legs of a woman to be on Earth.” He goes on to say that “trans women” genitalia are “not quite what it is,” comparing it to the likes of Beyond or Impossible meat.

Dave also talked about DaBaby’s homophobic statements earlier this summer, which got the rapper “canceled,” in comparison to a 2018 incident involving the rapper where he shot and killed another man in Walmart.

“In our country, you can shoot and kill a [n****], but you better not hurt a gay person’s feelings,” he joked during the special.

Following The Closer’s release, multiple organizations are speaking out against the comedian and Netflix for putting it out on their platform, including GLAAD.

“Dave Chappelle’s brand has become synonymous with ridiculing trans people and other marginalized communities,” the organization wrote 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.”

The National Black Justice Coalition’s executive director, David Johns, also spoke out against Chappelle, calling for the special to be removed from Netflix and an apology to be made to the transgender community.

“It is deeply disappointing that Netflix allowed Dave Chappelle’s lazy and hostile transphobia and homophobia to air on its platform,” Johns wrote. “With 2021 on track to be the deadliest year on record for transgender people in the United States — the majority of whom are Black transgender people — Netflix should know better. Perpetuating transphobia perpetuates violence.”

Dear White People executive producer Jaclyn Moore has also spoken out against the special.

The series has aired on Netflix for four seasons, but earlier this week, Moore said in a Twitter thread that she would no longer work with the streaming service “as long as they continue to put out and profit from blatantly and dangerously transphobic content.”

“I love so many of the people I’ve worked with at Netflix. Brilliant people and executives who have been collaborative and fought for important art… But I’ve been thrown against walls because, “I’m not a ‘real’ woman.” I’ve had beer bottles thrown at me. So, @Netflix, I’m done,” she tweeted.

She continued, “Chappelle was one of my heroes. I was at his comeback show in NYC. But he said he’s a TERF. He compared my existence to someone doing blackface. He talks about someone winning a Woman of the Year award despite never having a period should make women mad and that it makes him mad.”

“And then he ended his special with a “but I had a trans friend” story,” she wrote. “He says we don’t listen. But he’s not listening. Those words have real world consequences. Consequences that every trans woman I know has dealt with. Bruises and panicked phone calls to friends. That’s real.”

Moore concluded, “So when he says people should be mad a trans woman won a “Woman of the Year” award… When he misgenders… When he says he should’ve told that mother her daughter WAS A DUDE… I just can’t… I can’t be a part of a company that thinks that’s worth putting out and celebrating.”

Netflix has yet to respond to this backlash, but Dave Chappelle is performing at The Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles tonight, so we’ll likely hear more from him very soon.