Dave Chappelle Calls Students 'Instruments of Oppression' Over Trans Fury

Dave Chappelle has spoken out about the backlash he faced over his comments concerning transgender women in his controversial Netflix special, The Closer, calling the students who criticized him "instruments of oppression."

In his new Netflix special, What's in a Name?—which was released by the streaming giant in Thursday without prior announcement—the comedian addressed the matter during a speech in June at his alma mater, the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, D.C.

Chappelle spoke at a ceremony where there had been plans to name the school's theater after him, a decision that was widely criticized because of the comments the comic had made about trans women in November 2021's The Closer.

Amid the backlash, Chappelle also attended a Q&A session with the school's students, who criticized him for failing to listen to the LGBTQ community with regards to the content of some of his material.

During the renaming ceremony, Chappelle announced that he had decided against having the school's theater named after him in light of the backlash. The school subsequently named the space the Theater for Artistic Freedom and Expression.

While announcing the theater's new name during his 40-minute speech shown on What's in a Name, Chappelle mostly spoke about his years at the school, before going on to speak about the backlash he had faced over The Closer.

"All the kids were screaming and yelling," he said, per Variety. "I remember, I said to the kids, I go, 'Well, okay, well what do you guys think I did wrong?' And a line formed. These kids said everything about gender, and this and that and the other, but they didn't say anything about art.

"And this is my biggest gripe with this whole controversy with The Closer: That you cannot report on an artist's work and remove artistic nuance from his words. It would be like if you were reading a newspaper and they say, 'Man Shot in the Face by a Six-Foot Rabbit Expected to Survive,' you'd be like, 'Oh my god,' and they never tell you it's a Bugs Bunny cartoon."

Continuing to discuss the contentious Q&A session with the students, Chappelle said he felt as though his "freedom of artistic expression" was under attack.

"When I heard those talking points coming out of these children's faces, that really, sincerely, hurt me," he said. "Because I know those kids didn't come up with those words. I've heard those words before.

"The more you say I can't say something, the more urgent it is for me to say it. And it has nothing to do with what you're saying I can't say. It has everything to do with my right, my freedom, of artistic expression. That is valuable to me. That is not severed from me. It's worth protecting for me, and it's worth protecting for everyone else who endeavors in our noble, noble professions."

"And these kids didn't understand that they were instruments of oppression. And I didn't get mad at them," Chappelle added. "They're kids. They're freshmen. They're not ready yet. They don't know."

Reacting to The Closer, LGBTQ advocacy group GLAAD said in a statement that "Dave Chappelle's brand has become synonymous with ridiculing trans people and other marginalized communities."

One of the controversial comments involved Chappelle saying: "Gender is a fact."

"Every human being in this room, every human being on earth, had to pass through the legs of a woman to be on earth," the comic said. "That is a fact."

Chappelle, who is expected to release more specials via Netflix, also included a line about trans women's genitalia, saying that it is "not quite what it is."

Amid the controversy, Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos at first defended Chappelle, saying: "We have a strong belief that content on screen doesn't directly translate to real-world harm."

With the backlash showing no signs of waning, though, Sarandos later told The Hollywood Reporter that he "screwed up" in regard to internal communications within the company about the special.

As the controversy escalated, an estimated 100 Netflix employees organized a walkout in late October. Netflix's handling of the situation eventually led to the resignation of Terra Field, a high-level engineer for the company and the founder of its transgender employee research group.

Ahead of the walkout, Netflix said in a press release: "We value our trans colleagues and allies, and understand the deep hurt that's been caused. We respect the decision of any employee who chooses to walk out, and recognize we have much more work to do both within Netflix and in our content."

Chappelle eventually addressed his comments, saying that, while he was open to meeting with transgender rights groups, he would not be "bending to anyone's demands."

"I said what I said, and boy, I heard what you said. My God, how could I not?" Chappelle said in a post on his Instagram. "You said you want a safe working environment at Netflix. It seems like I'm the only one that can't go to the office anymore."