Surprisingly given how woke everything has gotten recently, comedian Dave Chappelle won best comedy album at the 2023 Grammys. The award came as a result of his most recent Netflix special, “The Closer.” That’s the one that received backlash over comments he made about transgender individuals that would have been considered common sense a few short years ago.
In winning the award, Chappelle was chosen over other, wroker comedians. Specifically, he won out over over Louis C.K. (Sorry), Jim Gaffigan (Comedy Monster), Randy Rainbow (A Little Brains, A Little Talent) and Patton Oswalt (We All Scream).
Gaffigan used to be a funny comedian but went woke and started ranting about Trump. C.K. can be funny, but is also woke (though the left tried to cancel him for “sexual misconduct” and failed). Patton Oswalt used to be a friend of Chappelle’s but then apologized for taking a picture with him when the woke mob freaked out. In the apology, Oswalt said:
“But we also 100% disagree about transgender rights & representation. I support trans peoples’ rights — ANYONE’S rights — to live safely in the world as their fullest selves. […] I need to reconcile myself, and not let [me] cause feels [sic] of betrayal in ANYONE else. And I’m sorry, truly sorry, that I didn’t consider the hurt this would cause. […] Gonna keep trying.”
Funnily enough, Chappelle’s win this year is the second year in a row a controversial comedian has won. Last year it was Louis C.K., controversial because of the cancellation attempt. His “Sincerely Louis CK” special, the first released since the cancellation attempt on him, won it for him.
Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. had to address C.K. and Chappelle being nominated for the Grammy’s this year despite the controversy, telling the Hollywood Reporter:
“We don’t control who the voters vote for.
“If the voters feel like a creator deserves a nomination, they’re going to vote for them. We’re never going to be in the business of deciding someone’s moral position or where we evaluate them to be on the scale of morality. I think our job is to evaluate the art and the quality of the art. We can make sure that all of our spaces are safe and people don’t feel threatened by anyone. But as far as the nominations or the awards, we really let the voters make that decision.”
“The Closer” was controversial because, during it, Chappelle made jokes about transgender people and declared that he was a “TERF”, or Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist. He also defended a rapper named “DaBaby” who had made “homophobic” comments, saying that gays are privileged compared to blacks. In his words:
“He once shot a n***a and killed him in Walmart. …. Oh, this is true. Google it. DaBaby shot and killed a n***a in Walmart in North Carolina and nothing bad happened to his career. Do you see where I am going with this? In our country, you can shoot and kill a n***a but you better not hurt a gay person’s feelings. And this is precisely the disparity that I wish to discuss. …. You think I hate gay people, and what you’re really seeing is that I am jealous of gay people. Oh, I’m jealous. And I am not the only Black person who feels this way. We Blacks, we look at the gay community and we say: ‘Goddamn it, look how well that movement is going. Look at how well you are doing, and we have been trapped in this predicament for hundreds of years. How the hell are you making that kind of progress?'”
Liberals hated the special and lost their minds over it, with protests and a walkout occuring at Netflix after it didn’t cancel the special and many public figures called Chappelle “transphobic.” But he soldiered on and won a Grammy, good for him.
By: Will Tanner. Follow me on Twitter @Will_Tanner_1
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