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.

  • Entertainmeonly@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    11 months ago

    Could you give some context? I’m definitely not going to watch it based on just a “take my word for it” argument. He’s been known to toe the line and get rude when people call him out on it. At this point I have to assume he is being transphobic simply because that’s been a problem for him in the past.

    • Wrench@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      OK. You’re entitled to your biases and unfounded opinions as much as the next person. Doesn’t mean we need to respect them.

        • Wrench@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          Did you miss the part about how he’s not going to watch it himself but already has an opinion based on his own assumptions?

          • Leraje@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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            11 months ago

            Did you miss the part where you told him asking for context meant he was biased? And they’re only assumptions if this was the first time this comedian had ever done a netflix special making trans people the butt of his jokes. Once someone has form for it, and we know he’s done it again, they’re no longer assumptions, they’re a reasonable inference.

          • Facebones@reddthat.com
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            11 months ago

            Sounds to me like there’s no context to be had and you’re just getting called out for lying. 🤷

        • vxx@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          I didn’t say he is conservative, just that he drank their koolaid. He’s mirroring their talking points and rethoric, pandering to the Conservative crowd, and not in a sarcastic way at all.

          What do you mean by “just read it”. Are you implying the transcript is wrong?

          • LotrOrc@lemmy.world
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            11 months ago

            I do believe that a transcript leaves out tone, intonation, and that sort of context to the words that are printed and said.

    • LotrOrc@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      He basically says, as most comedians have, that you should be able to make fun of everyone.

      He says (paraphrasing here) Im not making fun of trans people, they have a lot of representation, I’ll punch down on handicapped people instead

      It’s not about handicapped or trans people, it’s about the fact that no matter what you joke about, someone will be offended, and you can’t live your life not offending everyone

      Also, most of the special was about his dreams as a child, and how other people are dreamers too

      He also goes on to give Lil Nas X a lot of props in the special, which if he hated lgbtq people, he probably wouldn’t.

      The bits about trans people, which were few and far between, were mostly about how people.took and misconstrued his jokes about trans people in previous specials.

      I’ve seen all of them, not once do I think he was specifically targeting and being dismissive of trans people

      You can make fun of people without discriminating against them. Dave has pretty consistently made fun of everyone.

      He makes fun of himself and his wife for being black and Chinese in this. I don’t see everyone screaming that he’s racist against black or Chinese people

      • Mighty@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        fuck this “making jokes about everyone” defense. why do all these “I mAkE jOkEs aBoUt eVeRyOnE” Mf’ers ALWAYS make jokes about minorities and punch down? if your “comedy about everyone” is literally 90% about you asserting power and dominance over minorities, you’re just a hack. the power of comedy is so great. you can do so much with it. why use it to make people feel small who feel small all their life

      • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        I saw “the closer” and what you just wrote about it is full-on bullshit. Before that one maybe you could pass him off as actually joking, but not after that one.

    • Kalash@feddit.ch
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      11 months ago

      Could you give some context? I’m definitely not going to watch it based on just a “take my word for it” argument

      Are you actually asking someone else to provide you with a reason to watch the thing you’re pretending to have an opinion about?