Comedian Dave Chappelle
When one of the biggest comedians in the world in the last half-century comes to town, the vast majority will flock to the ticket offices in their thousands, but there will also be a few who will try to ruin the fun for everyone else.
Dave Chappelle never succumbed to the dictates of political correctness. After all, that’s the role of comedians. It used to be clear, and in these days of the thought police and cancellations, Apple is already big and powerful enough to simply put a band on all the cackling activists.
But they certainly keep trying to cancel it, literally: Chappelle is scheduled to hold a comedy show this evening (Wednesday) in Santa Rosa, a small town on the outskirts of San Francisco. The show is supposed to go ahead as scheduled, but as befits crazy California, nearly 500 people have already signed a petition demanding that his show be canceled. Chappelle has 4 performances planned in the coming days at the Luther Burbank Center for the Arts in the town.
The petition reads, among other things: “By giving the stage to discrimination, the Luther Burbank Center is sending a message to all of Sonoma County that prejudice, harmful language and stereotypes are a reason to laugh and celebrate.”
The creator of the petition, Joy Anderson, stated that since the venue is a non-profit and claims to stand for unity and diversity, it should not host Chappelle as a counter reaction to his comments on LGBTQ issues and especially on the transgender community. For example, Apple said he belongs to “Team TERF,” which stands for “Trans Exclusion Radical Feminist,” meaning feminists who reject the assertion that trans women are women.
More in-
In an open letter, the organizers of the petition (from TransLife Sonoma County) also wrote to the owners of the concert hall: “We are very disappointed that you have made the decision to welcome Chappelle with open arms despite the fact that his transphobia has been widely publicized in the media for many years. This is in direct contradiction to your commitment to make the arts for more diversity, equality and inclusion”.
Last week, the cries of cancellation were heard in Minneapolis, where a Chappelle show was canceled on the day of the show itself. In Santa Rosa, for the time being, it does not appear that there will be a cancellation; Thousands reportedly bought tickets to Chappelle’s four shows in Santa Rosa – more than 6,000 tickets were sold in eight hours.
Chappelle’s show tonight starts at 19:00. And he is scheduled to perform two shows on Wednesday night and one on Thursday.
According to them, the organizers of the petition have not yet received a response from the venue’s owners. The Luther Burbank Center for the Arts published a statement in the press that read, among other things: “The arts and entertainment have a long history of being controversial. Diversity, equality and inclusion allow different voices and opinions.”
As far as the Apple issue is concerned, the team “discussed taking into account the controversy, the diversity of opinions, our responsibility to the community, and where censorship begins and ends. Many members of the team, representing the diversity of the community, watched[ספיישל של נטפליקס] ‘The Closer’ and other material by the artist to understand the context. Ultimately, we determined it was not our job to censor, especially from an organization that leases our facility and one that provides artists as diverse as the voices of Wanda Sykes, Randy Rainbow, Trevor Noah, and John Oliver to our community. This decision was not taken lightly.”
“We look forward to continuing the conversation about how we can continue to support our LGBTQIA+ community and provide a platform for their voices to be heard,” the statement concludes.
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