Dave Chappelle has more Netflix projects in the pipeline despite pressure for the streaming service to cut ties with the comedian.
Months after outrage erupted over Chappelle’s remarks about transgender people in his Netflix comedy special “The Closer,” the streaming service announced Friday that Chappelle, 48, will both executive produce and appear in a new series of comedy specials.
“Chappelle’s Home Team” will debut its first special, “Earthquake: Legendary,” on Feb. 28, featuring the comedian Earthquake as he “shakes up the stage and delivers aftershocks while going in hard on health as wealth, prostate exams and disciplining kids,” according to a release provided by Netflix.
Chappelle will appear in each special to introduce the comedians. The second special, which has a yet-to-be-announced release date, will feature Donnell Rawlings, the release adds.
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“I’ve been doing this a long time and comedians like Quake and Donnell are not only friends but have inspired my own career,” Chappelle said in a statement. “Anyone in the comedy community knows these names and knows their time to shine is long overdue. I am proud to be a part of this moment.”
Chappelle’s special “The Closer” sparked outage and debate surrounding his remarks about the LGBTQ+ community, and in particular the transgender community. In the special, Chappelle attempted to juxtapose the pace of civil rights gained by LGBTQ people over those fought for by the Black community and expressed solidarity with “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling, who drew backlash in 2019 for comments about gender.
“Gender is a fact,” Chappelle said in “The Closer.” “Every human being in this room, every human being on Earth, had to pass through the legs of a woman to be on Earth. That is a fact.”
In protest of the special, Netflix employees staged a walkout and rally outside company’s Los Angeles headquarters in October.
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Following the release of “The Closer,” Netflix employees voiced concerns that Chappelle’s special promoted transphobic attitudes at a time when violence against such Americans is on the rise.
In the course of two memos to staff, Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos defended the company’s association with Chappelle, declined to remove the special and questioned the need for alarm.
“While some employees disagree, we have a strong belief that content onscreen doesn’t directly translate to real-world harm,” he wrote.
Sarandos later walked back his comments, saying in a series of interviews that he “screwed up” his response to staff but reiterating his support of the special.
“I should have first and foremost acknowledged in those emails that a group of our employees were in pain, and they were really feeling hurt from a business decision that we made,” Sarandos told The Hollywood Reporter. “And I, instead of acknowledging that first, I went right into some rationales.”
Following the backlash, Chappelle screened his documentary “Untitled” in November, which centered more than 50 comedy shows he held in a cornfield in rural Ohio last summer.
Contributing: Marco della Cava, USA TODAY
