Since the release of the new comedy special by Davehappelle called Closer, Netflix has found itself in an uncomfortable place. This event brings light to various issues in the industry. From racism to transphobic comments to how the industry really reacts to diversity, this is something that needs to be addressed.
Who is Dave Chappelle?
Dave Chappelle is not known for unproblematic jokes. He has a contract with Netflix and has already released a few comedy specials over the years. Most of them received some amount of success. Chappelle uses his platform to highlight discussions regarding racism, such as Black Lives Matter and police brutality. Closer was no different. Nevertheless, he also said transphobic comments and jokes in the new special. This is not the first time that the comedian has found himself in a difficult spot.
Beyond the jokes about trans people and the LGBTQIA+ community in general, Chappelle claims that this minority is taking the spotlight from African American issues. He stated that the issues regarding African American people should have more coverage.
Regarding the lack of media coverage and just general support of African American issues, Chappelle is not wrong. There is a substantial lack of attention that African American people get. He is wrong when he claims that it has to be one of the other: LGBTQIA VS African Americans. He is not aware that there are a lot of people that can benefit from both minorities receiving coverage and attention. Especially if you take into consideration the concept of intersectionality identities.
What are intersectionality identities?
Is a framework where social identities, such as gender, race, ethnicity, religion, social class, sexual orientation overlap. We live within power systems that take advantage of and mistreat people regarding their combined identities, not only one element of it. Catalyst’s website Director of Research Corin Ramos explains how this can affect people.
“You can have multiple identities, but the difference is how those identities are affected by deep-rooted institutional racism or bias. (…) They forget about things like sexuality, ability, age, immigration status—all these different identities that can interplay and are subject to systems of power that privilege certain people over others.”
Various celebrities announced their opinions regarding the comedy special and Netflix’s decision to keep it in its catalog, even after a lot of people asked for it to be removed. David J Johns, the executive director of The National Black Justice Collation, spoke about the lack of understanding of intersectionality Chappelle had.
“When we fail to recognize that as long as there have been Black people we’ve been beautifully diverse it’s easy to accept the lie that Black trans, queer, and non-binary/non-conforming people don’t exist, and we often face unique challenges that are ignored in moments like this.”
What Did Netflix Do?
Since the release of Closer, the internet had its eyes on the special. A Netflix employee, who is trans, tweeted about the comedy special, criticizing Netflix for allowing this kind of harmful content to be on its platform. The employee was suspended a few days later. She was quickly reintegrated. Netflix released a statement saying that she was suspended over an internal affair problem and not because of what she said on Twitter.
It is pretty weird timing for all of this to happen. Netflix has been a company that always preached about diversity in its content and team. So, when this happens a lot of red flags are raised. Just as in the entertainment industry as a whole, diversity has become a common topic. It is important to point out moments like this. When companies that preach diversity in their films and tv shows, as well as in the behind of scenes, do not act in an inclusive way.
Double Standards
Also, Chappelle wasn’t the first celebrity to make transphobic or homophobic comments. But why is he one of the first to be so openly criticized? That are countless celebrities that did the same. Paris Hilton said in a radio interview that every gay man had AIDS, Eminem uses anti-gay slurs in a lot of his songs, Alec Baldwin tweeted homophobic content. These events happened a while ago, however, the internet is not known for forgiving due to ‘it has been a long time’. So why is this time different? The one thing all these celebrities had in common: they were white.
There is no excuse for the transphobic commets. However, we need to look at the backlash Dave Chappelle got and compare it to other celebrities. Why is it so easy to condemn an African American? The response was immediate. Also, Netflix co-CEO stated said that the company was right in maintaining Closer in its platform, “we have a strong belief that content on screen doesn’t directly translate to real-world harm.” This is completely wrong and an antithesis to what Netflix used as its brand as a whole. We should start holding accountable companies that have this kind of behavior, that’s when the real change in the industry will happen.
