Overview
- In an NPR interview released Wednesday, Dave Chappelle said he resents Republicans for turning his transgender jokes into a harsher political tool.
- Chappelle pointed to a 2023 Capitol Hill selfie posted by Rep. Lauren Boebert with a caption about “only two genders,” saying she politicized his image and that he later confronted her at his show.
- Boebert has pushed back since the interview, telling TMZ he should be “a little tougher” and defending her post as “stating facts,” keeping the dispute in the public eye.
- Chappelle argued his routines are nuanced and not meant to harm, criticized media coverage as “rage-baiting,” and said reading his jokes out of context misses how they land in a room.
- The clash follows years of backlash to his Netflix specials, including The Closer in 2021, which prompted employee walkouts as Netflix leaders defended airing the material as within its rules.