Mike's Musings: That Dave Chappelle Thing

 It's now very common to hear people say, 'I'm rather offended by that.' As if that gives them certain rights.  It's actually nothing more...than a whine.  'I find that offensive.'  It has no meaning; it has no purpose; it has no reason to be respected as a phrase.  'I am offended by that.'

Well, so fucking what?

Stephen Fry 

Dave Chappelle is in hot water right now, with his latest Netflix special causing controversy, walkouts, protests and so on.  Many are calling for his head and demanding that Netflix cancel him.

I haven't seen the controversial specials so I don't know what he specifically said (stand up loses a lot when not seen live).  That's actually beside the point.  The questions we need to ask ourselves are wider than remarks made by an often controversial comic.

Let's get the obvious out of the way right now.  I support the trans community.  The struggles they face are real (witness Chump Trump's sudden and boneheaded ban on trans troops serving openly in the military, a move that was met with almost universal derision from both sides of the aisle).  They deserve to be treated with respect and dignity just like everyone else, and sadly we aren't there yet.

That being said, this has little to do with trans rights and more with who we are as a culture.  What is or is not appropriate to talk about, joke about, and so on?  When is it appropriate to do so?  And, if we feel someone has crossed the line, what do we do about that?

It's important to understand that Dave Chappelle was performing a stand up act.  An "act."  As in, a performance.  The comedian is famous for his impersonations, so he may very well have been been doing that or pantomiming a character.  Or maybe not.

More to the point, stand up is notorious for being edgy and transgressive.  Richard Pryor, who was always controversial and at the same time one of the most influential and beloved stand up comics, had this to say about the profession: "Comedy rules!  Don't let anybody tell you otherwise, and there are no rules in stand-up comedy, which I really like.  You can do anything you want and say anything that comes to mind, just so long as it's funny.  If you ain't funny then get the fuck off the stage, it's that simple."  Stand up comedy provides an avenue for us to confront and laugh at things that are difficult or uncomfortable.  They help us see these things in new ways and laugh at our differences, foibles, and customs.  That's their job.  And given the free wheeling, improvisational nature of most stand-up comics, Chappelle may not have realized what he was saying, much less thought about how it could be interpreted.

The question we need to be asking is how does the artist, or any kind of speaker, address the material?  Do they have a comic point of view, some new insight or way of viewing it?  Or are they just pointing and laughing like a bully?  Surely there's a difference between laughing at a transperson simply because they are trans, and laughing at the ending of "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective?"  Again, it comes down to what they artist is saying and how they say it.

Maybe Chappelle's jokes not only bombed, but were the equivalent of him jumping up and down and saying how much he hates transpeople.  What difference, if any, does that actually make?  Is it ever fair to make jokes about transpeople, or are they too "vulnerable" (to coin a phrase) to be comic targets?  If so, then why is okay to make fun of African Americans, Italians, Jews, or anyone else?  Equality means just that.  If you're asking to be treated equally, then you've got to accept being fodder for humor.

These are not hypotheticals.  These are questions that we need to ask ourselves if we are going to move forward as a culture.  They are also personal opinions.  No one is ever going to agree, and good thing too.  It's bad enough that stand-up comedians have to worry about inspiring protests with their material, but should they have to worry that running their mouths could kill their careers?  That's why I was stunned and a little pissed off when James Gunn was fired (albeit temporarily) from directing "Guardians of the Galaxy 3" a while back after someone found allegedly homophobic tweets he made a number of years ago.  Are we really going so far as to call out someone for comments they made years and years ago?  Particularly if they were made in jest or from an uninformed position?  We live in an age of social media where everything is recorded for posterity.  There really is no way to escape your past anymore.  James Gunn isn't the same person he was when he made those tweets.  I'm not the same person I was a number of years ago.  Are we going to take that into consideration, or are we going to trash movies like "Mrs. Doubtfire" because they (could) be offensive to someone else.

Sure, cultural and social mores change.  "Swing Time," with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, was a cute but thin song and dance movie, but it's hard to watch it now with that dance number that had Astaire in blackface.  It could be that Chappelle's jokes were as offensive as that dance scene is now.  If so, then the answer is simple: don't watch his stuff.  If you really feel that strongly, cancel your Netflix subscription.  Hitting someone in the pocketbook is always more effective than saying, "I'm offended."

As Stephen Fry said, "So fucking what?"

One final note: I find it bitterly ironic that the LGBTQ community is willing to jump on anyone they perceive as discriminatory, but they won't call out their own members.  They're willing to stage walkouts when Dave Chappelle makes transphobic jokes yet are celebrating Masha Gessen for slamming Mayor Pete as a deceitful hypocrite because he can pass for straight?  What's with that?