Netflix and the Chappelle Mess

By Don Varyu

Oct. 28 2021

You may be aware that Dave Chappelle is a comedian, and that he is, right now, the most famous and successful one in the world. For his latest special, The Closer, Netflix reportedly paid him $20 million. But the controversy is not because of the paycheck; it’s the reaction to content of that performance that’s making headlines.

His new jokes about the transgender community (a common theme for him) have been declared “transphobic.” That word, by literal definition, describes either fear of or aversion to the trans community. It’s hard to imagine Chappelle fearful of most anything. So, it’s the implied “aversion” that creates such a divide between the comedian and his critics. And which is at the heart of this affair.

Chappelle trades in the currencies of outrage and offense. There’s nothing new in that. Over the years, Lenny Bruce and George Carlin and Howard Stern and even Larry David have all prospered with the recipe, balancing the outrage and offense in their own ways, with their own distinct deliveries. But those comedians all began their work in a different world, one where the sensitivities of those they skewered were seldom considered—or voiced.

Rage over The Closer bubbled inside Netflix itself, with a small group of employees first organizing a protest…and then threatening to quit unless The Closer was pulled from the steaming catalog.

This is a simple statement of facts. However, it doesn’t come close to describing the import of what’s going on.
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Those outraged at Chappelle are not holding back. The Twitter backlash (predictably) has been savage. He’s been fully dragged. This has tied Netflix management in knots (more on that below). Chappelle says the blowback is responsible for a separate Chappelle production (about the death of George Floyd) being pulled by the organizers of several film festivals--who had previously been eager to invite him. Chappelle claims he’s being cancelled.

Leaping to his defense, on the grounds of free speech, is an unlikely band of right-wing trolls including Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham, and Joe Rogan. (Rogan, who has toured with Chappelle, called him “the nicest man I’ve ever met.”) This drips of irony, as these three are among the most sensitive to criticism in the entire media universe.

Chappelle sees the danger here, and has agreed to meet with trans employees of Netflix—but only under his conditions. Among them: it must be at a place and time of his choosing; and any attendee must guarantee to have watched The Closer “from beginning to end.”

That last one seems like a strange requirement. But it’s maybe the most meaningful thing said on this whole situation so far.
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I’ll explain it this way. Have you (like me) ever stopped watching something on TV midstream…or walked out on a movie…just because you couldn’t stand it? Chappelle knows this happens with people watching him. So with this demand, he's not-so-subtly calling out his critics on the grounds of insufficient evidence. He’s implying that if they accuse him of all ridicule and no empathy, they could not have watched the whole show. He's saying if the world needs less ridicule toward the trans community and more understanding—watch the whole damn thing! In the process, he asserts that this same guy who makes jokes about the transgendered also turns out to be an honest supporter.

In order for this to make sense, you’d have to watch for yourself. I don’t want to try to explain this dichotomy, first because I couldn’t do it justice. And second, it would be a spoiler for anyone who decides to watch it later (as I urge you to do.)

Watching him onstage, it’s hard to imagine Chappelle as a good guy. But in interview situations, he’s calmer and introspective. He’s said things like this:

“I’m tellin’ ya, I’m on my kindness conspiracy. If we live by an ethic of kindness, if we foster trust amongst each other, it will matter less what corporations and politicians say, because we’ll be able to trust our society’s cohesiveness.”

Hmmm. Is that real? To me, it seems to be.
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But the questions linger. Who’s right here? What’s more important—Chappelle’s individual freedom of speech, or a group’s freedom from scorn and ridicule? Opinions will vary. But not every trans person is part of the social media mob. A trans woman named Blaire White said:

“…the message of Dave Chappelle’s special that no one seems to be grasping is how the LGBT community goes after people so viscously…and how often it’s not even deserved. In the midst of fighting against transphobia, attacking Dave…is a sadly typical example of the community’s inability to look inward and see that oftentimes we become what we claim to hate, and we behave in ways that are the same--if not worse--than what we are fighting against.”

Even tribes can disagree.
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­­­­­­OK, finally, what’s the bottom line? Seems like people will see what they want to see, believe what they believe, and get disgusted with what disgusts them. But Netflix doesn’t have the option of walking away. They’re caught in the middle.

The corporate world is familiar with disciplines called “reputation management” and “crisis communications.” Sometimes—like this—they’re the same thing. On one hand, Netflix has a prime (maybe its absolute prime) asset in Chappelle. On the other, it has a small internal group of disgruntled employees, and a whole lot of people on the outside supporting them. To repeat, it’s a question of freedom of expression against freedom from oppression. Corporations may wish that these are two distinct circles that never overlap. Of if they do, somehow there’s some shelter within the Ven diagram.

That’s not easy, and Netflix is struggling to find a way to have it both ways. The company began with a full-throated defense of Chappelle’s show, stating in a staff memo, “we don’t allow titles on Netflix that are designed to incite hate or violence, and we don’t believe The Closer crossed 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.” So there.

A few days later, the Netflix CEO who penned that memo changed his tune. He said, “I screwed up. I should have led with humanity. I had a group of employees who were definitely feeling hurt and pain from a decision we made.” To say that didn’t satisfy the offended is an understatement.

In the end, Netflix may have inadvertently delivered on the proper strategy in closing that same follow-up memo. It stated, “we’re trying to entertain the world, and the world is made up of folks with a lot of different sensibilities and beliefs and senses of humor—sometimes there will be things on Netflix that you dislike.”

That’s what he should have led with. Those words could have been meant for the entire streaming world, although they seemed more targeted at those embittered employees who had threatened to quit.

And on this point, Chappelle has insight. His father was an established professional doing statistical work for an east coast firm when he discovered that his company had just picked up a client in South Africa. It was the time of apartheid. That offended him. So he walked out the door.

Social media means there will never be an end to haters. Some people don't want to see anyone offended. Some people thrive on outrage. You can trust that people will say and do things that offend you. You can choose to respond to them. You can ignore them. Or you can just walk away.

Pick your door.

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Editor’s Note:

• The full YouTube statement of the trans woman above defending Chappelle is here. (Spoiler alert: it refers to the empathetic story Chappelle tells at the end of the special.)

• Many people are left asking why Chappelle says these things. Is he really mean and hateful? Is he just doing this for the money? I don’t know the answer, but maybe the most revealing interview he’s done is one with David Letterman seven years ago. He seems unvarnished. It’s here.)
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