After a venue in Minneapolis said no to him, Chappelle called the protesters “transgender lunatics.”
Yesterday, a sold-out Dave Chappelle show in Minneapolis was moved to a different location just hours before Chappelle was supposed to go on stage. This is per CNN, which reports that Minneapolis’ First Avenue theater issued a statement on its Instagram this week, which included an apology to “staff, artists, and our community” for not holding itself to “our highest standards” for booking Chappelle, who has come under heavy criticism in recent years for a) doing transphobic material in his various comedy sets and specials and b) getting very angry at people suggesting that transphobic material by one of the most well-known and popular comedians on the planet might go some way toward propagating harmful attitudes towards trans people.
First Avenue’s post didn’t say that Chappelle’s transphobic jokes or the small group of protesters outside the theatre before his show were the reasons for the cancellation. However, the statement did talk about the “impact” that Chappelle’s show would have. Part of the statement says, “The First Avenue team and you have worked hard to make our venues the safest places in the country.”
Chappelle, who was performing that night at the Varsity Theater, did talk about the cancellation. He called the protesters “transgender lunatics” and said that there were rumours that First Avenue staffers had been threatened to cancel his show. He also made a joke about monkeypox being a “gay disease.” If there’s one thing that keeps Chappelle on the cutting edge of modern comedy, it’s his ability to spread the latest and most harmful lies.
Anyway, get ready for another round of talk about whether or not Dave Chappelle’s show is going to be cancelled. It’s worth noting that he still got to do a show last night where he charged $130 a ticket to talk for an hour about how he’s being silenced.
