Dave Chappelle Addresses Trans Jokes and President Trump in New Netflix Special 'Equanimity'

Dave Chappelle addresses trans jokes and President Trump in his two new Netflix Specials

This is Dave Chappelle at Rihanna's 3rd Annual Diamond Ball.
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Image via Gilbert Carrasquillo/GC Images

This is Dave Chappelle at Rihanna's 3rd Annual Diamond Ball.

As promised, Netflix dropped two new Dave Chappelle specials—Equanimity and The Bird Revelation—to bring in New Year's Eve. They follow up this year's The Age of Spin and Deep in the Heart of Texas, which drew criticism for its jokes considered transphobic and offensive to the LGBTQ.

In Equanimity, Chappelle decided to address the critics by reading a letter that he received from a white transperson who chided him about his jokes. He didn't outright apologize and instead noted that it's hard to be understanding of the "talk of how one feels inside" when the discourse is led by white men, the demographic that often gets criticized for minimizing the voices of people-of-color in the LGBTQ community.

This isn't the first time Chappelle addressed the offending jokes. The comedian denied that he's transphobic in an interview with LGBT outlet The Washington Blade.

“I’m not an obstructionist of anybody’s lifestyle, as long as it doesn’t hurt me or people I love and I don’t believe that lifestyle does," he said.

Chappelle also caught flack during his Saturday Night Live monologue, where he wished President Trump good luck and asked viewers to give him a chance after the 2016 election (later he admitted he "fucked up" on that.) In Equanimity, Chappelle continues the sentiment as he compares the presidency to the case of Emmett Till, believing both serve as a wake-up call to fight harder and do better as a country.

The two specials are currently streamable on Netflix.

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