Actress Trace Lysette condemns new Dave Chappelle anti-trans Netflix special
Trans actress Trace Lysette has condemned Dave Chappelle (TikTok/Lester Cohen/WireImage)
Trans actress Trace Lysette has condemned Dave Chappelle’s latest anti-trans jokes.
Chappelle’s latest comedy special, The Dreamer, dropped on Netflix on Sunday (31 December), with the comedian supposedly focusing on the early years of his career in Hollywood and how he found success.
However, after just a few minutes, he was making jokes at the expense of the trans community. Similar content in earlier routines have led to him being heavily criticised.
In the new special, he claimed to “love punching down” and also mocked disabled and gay people.
Sharing her views on the show, Lysette said in a video posted to her TikTok account: “I don’t know what doll hurt Dave Chappelle. I really don’t.
“But it’s giving disgruntled client. It’s giving angry trick. It’s giving… he wanted to kiss on the mouth and she was like, ‘No, I don’t do that. I up-charge for that. If you wanna do that, you gotta give me X, Y, Z’.
“And he was like: ‘Oh, no, ma’am’, and his ego was bruised, honey. So, you went on a rampage. Am I lying? Dolls, am I lying?”
Lysette went on to say: “Who goes on to make three specials, three comedy specials, about the dolls? Because you can’t take. Get him some help.”
During the special, Dave Chappelle compared transgender people to Hollywood stars who are method actors.
“If you guys came here, to this show tonight, thinking that I’m going to make fun of those people again, you’ve come to the wrong show. I’m not f**king with those people any more,” he told the audience.
“It wasn’t worth the trouble. I ain’t saying s**t about them. Maybe three or four times tonight, but that’s it.
“I’m tired of talking about them. And you want to know why I’m tired of talking about them? Because these people acted like I needed them to be funny. Well, that’s ridiculous. I don’t need you.”
He said he would instead be doing jokes about disabled people. “Tonight, I’m doing all handicapped jokes. They’re not as organised as the gays, and I love punching down.”
But Dave Chappelle again returned his focus to the trans community later, despite saying he would not “make fun” of them.
“To be honest with you, I’ve been trying to repair my relationship with the transgender community ’cause I don’t want them to think I don’t like them,” he said.
“You know how I’ve been repairing it? I wrote a play. I did, ’cause I know gays love plays.
“It’s a very sad play, but it’s moving. It’s about a Black transgender woman whose pronoun is, sadly, n***a. It’s a tear-jerker.
“At the end of the play, she dies of loneliness ’cause white liberals don’t know how to speak to her.”
He also said that if he’s ever sent to prison, he hoped it would be in California so he can tell the judge he “identifies as a woman” so he would serve time in a “woman’s jail”
“As soon as I get in there, you know what I’m doing?” he asked.
“‘Give me your fruit cocktail, b***h, before I knock your motherf**king teeth out. I’m a girl, just like you, b***h. Come here and suck this girl d**k I got. Don’t make me explain myself, I’m a girl.’”
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