Dave Chappelle is once again ready to deliver laughs to his audience.
This past Friday, the 52-year-old comedian announced the launch of his new Netflix special, “Dave Chappelle: The Unstoppable…,” which premiered right after the highly anticipated Jake Paul vs. Anthony Joshua boxing match.
Addressing the crowd before the fight, Chappelle expressed gratitude to his hometown. “I wanted to give a shout out to Washington D.C. and thank everyone who supported me during my October show,” he shared. “Tonight, after the fight, my new special will be available on Netflix. I hope you enjoy it. Thank you so much. Ah chicka chicka.”
Chappelle is well-acquainted with the Netflix platform, having previously released several specials there. In 2017, he debuted “The Age of Spin,” “Deep in the Heart of Texas,” “Equanimity,” and “Bird Revelation.”
His work earned him accolades, with “Equanimity” winning an Emmy award.
He continued his successful run with “The Closer” in 2021 and “The Dreamer” in 2023.
And during his live shows, Chappelle doesn’t hold back.
Last February, Chappelle took to the stage for a stand-up show in San Francisco and told the audience that certain topics were off limits while he was doing his opening monologue at “SNL” a month prior.
“SNL producers told him he couldn’t speak about two topics: transgender people and Gaza,” SFGATE’s senior culture editor Dan Gentile reported at the time.
However, Chappelle still included a forbidden reference in his monologue.
“Do not forget your humanity, and please have empathy for displaced people whether they’re in the Palisades or Palestine,” he stated.
The four time “SNL” host joked to the audience during his stint in January that he was “tired of being controversial” and hoping to “turn over a new leaf.”
Then, in August, Chappelle debuted his COVID-era doc, “Dave Chappelle: Live In Real Life” at a film festival in Martha’s Vineyard.
The original release failed after he received backlash over 2021’s “The Closer.”
“I’ve gone on to get snubbed by the Grammys and the Emmys because someone thought it was a good idea to tell trans jokes,” Chappelle told the audience at the film festival, per Variety.
The LGBTQ+ community and multiple Netflix employees protested his special since it included jokes about transgender people.
In 2023, Chappelle took aim at the transgender community and people with disabilities again in the special “The Dreamer.”
In the special, he recounted the time he met Jim Carrey on the set of the 1999 film “Man on the Moon.”
The “Ace Ventura” star, 63, played the late Andy Kaufman in the comedy drama.
“I was very disappointed because I wanted to meet Jim Carrey and I had to pretend he was Andy Kaufman all afternoon. It was clearly Jim Carrey. I could look at him and clearly see it was Jim Carrey,” Chappelle explained.
“I say all that to say … that’s how trans people make me feel,” he quipped.
Later in the set, Chappelle expressed: “Tonight, I’m doing all handicapped jokes. They’re not as organized as the gays, and I love punching down.”
However, Netflix released a statement shortly after.
“We value our trans colleagues and allies, and understand the deep hurt that’s been caused,” a Netflix spokesperson said. “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.”
