On the night that Dave Chappelle received this year's Mark Twain Prize for American Humor at The Kennedy Center, it shouldn't come as a surprise that the comedian would be forced to confront the PC culture that drew his ire in his latest Netflix stand-up special Sticks & Stones, and sparked a polarizing discussion in the days and weeks afterwards.
Before accepting the prestigious award, which includes previous recipients such as Eddie Murphy, Ellen DeGeneres, and Will Ferrell, Chappelle acknowledged that there's a place for political correctness, but remained steadfast in his stance of pushing the boundaries when expressing his opinion while also welcoming others to do the same.
"Political correctness has its place," Chappelle said. "We all want to live in a polite society, we just kind of have to work on the levels of coming to an agreement of what that actually looks like. I, personally, am not afraid of other people's freedom of expression. I don't use it as a weapon. It just makes me feel better. And I'm sorry if I hurt anybody. Yada, yada, everything I'm supposed to say."
Check out a clip of his response below.
On Sticks & Stones, Chappelle led a movement of exploring whether PC culture had gone too far, and many comedians have aligned themselves with him for the sake of their craft going forward. Others, most notably, those caught in the crosshairs of his humor on the latest special haven't been so receptive to his unapologetic viewpoint.
Chappelle has since doubled and even tripled down on his stance, a tactic that Chappelle's Show co-creator Neal Brennan believes could be a result of Dave struggling to come to terms with the idea of people actually being angry with him.
