Minneapolis Venue Axes Dave Chappelle Show over Trans Jokes
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Dave Chappelle’s scheduled stand-up performance at a famous Minneapolis venue was canceled Wednesday after social-media criticism of the comic’s transgender jokes.
Hours before the show was scheduled to start, First Avenue confirmed that the show would not be hosted at their theater and would instead be relocated to Varsity Theater.
On Instagram, the comedy club left a cryptic message explaining its decision, implying it has faced pressure to disassociate from Chappelle, who made waves this past year for poking fun at transgenderism in his Netflix special The Closer.
“To staff, artists and our community, we hear you and we are sorry. We know we must hold ourselves to the highest standards, and we know we let you down. We are not just a black box with people in it, and we understand that First Ave is not just a room, but meaningful beyond our walls,” the statement reads. “The First Avenue team and you have worked hard to make our venues the safest spaces in the country, and we will continue with that mission. We believe in diverse voices and the freedom of artistic expression, but in honoring that, we lost sight of the impact this would have.”
While First Avenue acquiesced to to the initial social-media mob, the move to drop Chapelle, a very popular artist and frequent comedy headliner across the country, sparked its own backlash.
“Protect artistic expression but then you refuse to protest artistic expression..Make that make sense,” one account commented on the Instagram post, amassing hundreds of likes.
“Wrong move First Ave,” another wrote. “Doesn’t sound like you believe in diverse voices at all,” another said.
“We hear (some of)* you,” an account mocked.
During a speech at his high school, Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, D.C., Chappelle announced he would not have a theater named after him, choosing instead the name, the “Theater for Artistic Freedom and Expression.” He said he changed his mind after hearing complaints from students about his Closer special, Variety noted.
“When I heard those talking points coming out of these children’s faces, that really, sincerely, hurt me. 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,” Chappelle said. “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.”
In November 2021, the school initially canceled its planned fundraiser with Chappelle, kowtowing to the demands of disgruntled students who “threatened to stage a walkout because they were uncomfortable,” before opting to postpone the event.
While Chappelle has received a lot of flak on the internet, in May he was physically attacked on stage while performing his standup routine at the Hollywood Bowl venue by a suspect who claimed that “what he said was triggering.”
