Dave Chappelle on ‘SNL’: A timeline of the controversy around his transgender

CNN
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Tonight Dave Chappelle will host “Saturday Night Live” for the third time – an appearance that is courting controversy before he even takes the stage.

The comedian has drawn increasing ire in recent years for making jokes aimed at transgender people, and the outcry grew louder last fall when Netflix released a Chappelle special, “The Closer,” in which he doubled down on his comments.

Netflix stood by Chappelle, who went on a national tour after the special and largely ignored the controversy after addressing it in his act.

But his comments were criticized by fellow comics, fans, trans advocates and some Netflix employees, and a Minnesota venue canceled a Chappelle show this year over the controversy.

Given that context, it was surprising to some “SNL” viewers to see him invited back to Studio 8H. Here’s a look at Chappelle’s recent history of jokes about trans people – and the resulting backlash.

August: In a series of stand-up shows at New York City’s Radio City Music Hall, Chappelle made jokes aimed at trans people for at least 20 minutes, Vulture reported. He made explicit jokes about trans people’s bodies and referred to trans people as “transgenders,” among other comments, Vulture said.

These weren’t the first jokes Chappelle had made at trans people’s expense. But he delivered them in New York after drawing some backlash for earlier comments.

“That joke and others in this section suffer from the same problems as those from his specials – they are rooted in disgust and generalization,” Vulture wrote of a Chappelle joke about ISIS fighters being horrified by transgender soldiers. “They’re just not good.”

August 26: Netflix released a stand-up special, “Sticks and Stones,” in which Chappelle performed more material about trans people, including some content from his Radio City shows. In an epilogue to the special, he brought up his friend Daphne Dorman, a trans comedian, whom he said laughed hardest at his jokes about trans people.

October 5: Netflix released Chappelle’s special “The Closer.” In it, he goes on an extended tangent about transgender people and makes several jokes at their expense. He misgenders a trans comedian, once again makes explicit jokes about trans women’s bodies and defends TERFs, or trans-exclusionary radical feminists.

He also referred to trans people as “transgenders,” states that “gender is a fact” and later says that Dorman died by suicide shortly after she was criticized by other trans people for defending Chappelle after “Sticks and Stones.”

At the time Chappelle’s special was released, at least 33 states had introduced anti-transgender legislation, much of it aimed at young trans people.

October 13: Amid calls from LGBTQ advocates, fellow comedians, Netflix employees and social justice organizations to pull the special, Netflix stood by Chappelle.

In a letter obtained by the Verge and Variety, Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos told employees that the special will remain available to stream.

“We don’t allow titles on Netflix that are designed to incite hate or violence, and we don’t believe ‘The Closer’ crosses that line … Some people find the art of stand-up to be mean spirited but our members enjoy it, and it’s an important part of our content offering,” Sarandos wrote.

Netflix suspended three employees for attending a virtual meeting of directors to discuss the special without notifying the meeting organizer in advance. Among them was Terra Field, a trans senior software engineer who had publicly criticized the special and Netflix. Her suspension was later reversed.

October 19: Sarandos told Variety he “screwed up” his communications with Netflix employees but reaffirmed he did not believe the special qualifies as “hate speech.”

October 20: Around 65 demonstrators, including Netflix employees and trans advocates, participated in a walkout in protest of Netflix’s support of “The Closer.” The demonstrators called on Netflix to hire more trans and non-binary executives and fund more trans and non-binary talent.

October 24: Three trans stand-up comics told CNN they were disappointed by Chappelle’s jokes, even though all three said they once considered the celebrated performer as a comedy inspiration. While all of them agreed that jokes about trans people aren’t inherently offensive, they said Chappelle’s set was infused with the same hateful rhetoric and language used by anti-transgender critics.

“When he talks about the trans community, he’s not talking…