I Watched Chappelle’s Show - And… It’s Complicated

OK, I actually watched Dave Chappelle's show last night ("The Closer"). And, as they say in Facebookland, it's complicated. Yes, he walks a knife's edge and sometimes goes gleefully falling off. He insults (or provokes) not just LGBTQ people but his "Asian brothers and sisters," women, Jews and others. That's what edgy comics do -- and Chappelle is one of our edgiest... and best.

So I understand the anger of LGBTQ people, who see the show as a clear-cut case of further victimization. But here's the thing. I don't think it is. I think Chappelle -- in his sometimes crude, fucked-up but brilliant way -- is trying to spark a dialogue between the LGBTQ and African-American communities. (The fact that many trans people are Black seems to confuse him.)

Bottom line: is Chappelle "transphobic?" No. Should he be cancelled? Hell, no!

But I DO wish he'd use his scathing talents against the truly powerful more often. (At one point in the show, Chappelle approvingly quotes a trans friend saying that Dave does not hit up or down.) Tearing to shreds the likes of McConnell, Manchin and Sinema and our whole corrupt, money-driven political system; soulless Big Oil, Big Tech and Big Pharma corporate masters; merchants of death (the makers of military weapons marketed for overseas and domestic use); reactionary Texas and Florida lawmakers; the CIA; and the bloodthirsty, perpetual, imperial American war machine.

Now THAT would make me laugh.