OPINION: Dave Chappelle is an idiot, but he has one point

Let me state this plainly before I get too deep into this article: Dave Chappelle is an asshole.

What makes him an asshole is that he has been told repeatedly that what he says in his “comedy” specials is not funny, but offensive to trans people — But he still does it.

He’s an asshole because it seems that he only cares about this “point” he’s attempting to make about cancel culture (more on that later), and his right to say whatever he wants to. Gone are the days when comedians could say shitty things and get away with them just because they’re comedians, and Dave Chappelle is REALLY upset about it. 

Dave Chappelle is an asshole because he uses that one trans friend he has who comes to his shows and isn’t offended by his comments in the same way that a racist white person would use that one Black friend they have as proof that they aren’t racist. “If I were racist, would I invite Raheem to my house once a year to take pictures that I can pull whenever I need to prove how diverse my friends pool is?” 

Yes, Dave Chappelle is an asshole. Dave Chappelle is also a Black man. Not only is he a Black man, but he’s a smart Black man. And these are all reasons why Dave Chappelle is argubly one of the most polarizing public figures in the news right now. But there is one thing that Dave Chappelle is helping to highlight, and that is the growing tension between the Black community and the LGBTQ community. 

One article that called my attention to this tension was an opinion piece in Instinct Magazine, a gay online publication, entitled “Opinion: Dave, We’re Laughing With You”, in which Mickey Keating highlights a section of Chappelle’s latest Netflix special, The Closer, where he discusses cancel culture. In this section, Chappelle points out that rapper Da Baby was recently called out and canceled for making comments about the gay community, but not for killing a Black man in Walmart. 

Keating writes: “His audience, producers, and seemingly society gave DaBaby a thumbs up to headline music festivals despite having dismissed charges of a fatal shooting… but not for insulting gay men. Chappelle lays it out for us in his special: You can shoot and kill a black man in a department store, but don’t you dare say anything that can be deemed inappropriate about the gay community. Chappelle goes on to say how lucky the LGBTQ community is because of how far they have come with equality. He puns that perhaps African Americans should’ve held Pride Parades covered in body oil and wearing booty shorts to get some global attention for their fight for justice.”

There is definitely a lot to unpack here, but one thing is evident: Chappelle, like most cishet Black people (and apparently some queer people as well) doesn’t really understand that the LGBTQ community also includes Black people. This is the reason the LGBTQ community has been shouting “ALL Black Lives Matter”, as Black trans women are being killed all over the country and no one seems to care. 

However, Black LGBTQ people are put in this very unique position where we recognize and experience inequality from both sides, and this particular situation is no different. I would be a liar if I didn’t say that Dave Chappelle’s comments didn’t highlight another uncomfortable fact: In manys ways, LGBTQ people appear safer and more protected than the Black community because the LGBTQ community also includes white people. 

Yes, it’s definietly true. While Chappelle is definitely an asshole for not undertsanding intersectionality in the LGBTQ community and not recognizing Black LGBTQ people as a valid part off the movement, he is also right to point out the fact that white LGBTQ voices are often heard louder than Black voices. 

As queer Black rapper DDm said in a recent interview: “There was a time when I was terribly upset with Black people in my community about how I was treated when I came out the closet. I spent several years distancing myself and flying rainbow flags. Then… gay marriage was legalized. Almost overnight, I watched the ‘we are family’ shit go right out the window. I found some of the same white men who had been calling me ‘darling’ before at clubs like Grand Central in Baltimore, were now giving me the side eye once they got their rights.”

Many Black people realize that the LGBTQ community has been gaining more rights and visibility in recent years because the voices of the white members of the  LGBTQ community has been amplified the loudest. Meanwhile, Black people in America are being killed by racist white police officers, and have never experienced the equality that was promised since slavery was abolished in the late 1800s. So, it’s only natural that many cishet Black people like Chappelle will start to question things. 

But the obvious mistake here, from my queer perspective, is that’s things are not always what they seem. The LGBTQ community stills struggles with discrimination on a daily basis, and though we have gained certain rights and more visibility in the media, violence and discrimination toward the community is up 13% from last year. It’s not as good as it all seems. There’s still a ton of work to do. 

Black men need to realize what intersectionality is, and that Black LGBTQ people exist in real life. The LGBTQ community needs to understand that Black people are also part of the community and have been struggling to have our voices heard for eons, and it doesn’t seem to matter that much. And both groups need to understand that we don’t need to turn against one another. It’s time to come together.

Oh, and in case I didn’t say enough before… Dave Chappelle is a fucking asshole!