LGBTQ Comedians Respond to Dave Chappelle’s ‘Sticks and Stones’

[Lilmonzter 2,864]

Chappelle has caught criticism for jokes about "the alphabet people"

For anyone who's confused we are the alphabet people!

Alison Grillo can see both sides of the debate around Dave Chappelle’s latest Netflix stand-up special, “Sticks & Stones,” which has been criticized for jokes about LGBTQ people. As a comedian, she thinks Chappelle should be free to joke about anything. But as a trans woman, she said one of his jokes “rankled” her a little bit.

“I wouldn’t say you shouldn’t make jokes about Michael Jackson, or you shouldn’t make jokes about trans people unless you’re trans, or you shouldn’t make jokes about school shootings unless you’ve been in a school shooting. No. I wouldn’t put that level of censorship on anyone,” Grillo told TheWrap.

But she didn’t love a joke in which a character isn’t sure what pronoun to use for trans people: “I guess the most offensive joke I would say, personally, was the joke about the LGBT people in the car, and when he says, ‘Oh, yes, hi, whatever pronoun you’re comfortable with.’ That kind of rankled me a little bit. But otherwise, I didn’t think it was a terribly mean-spirited performance.”

By nature, comedy specials mix truth with jokes that aren’t meant to be taken seriously. But Chappelle has caught criticism from some viewers who think he’s punching down, targeting people who historically haven’t been given a voice in comedy or society at large.

In “Sticks & Stones,” Chappelle goes after many unexpected targets, including the men who’ve accused Michael Jackson of molesting them as children. He also likens LGBTQ people to passengers on a long road trip who don’t always get along.

Many have taken sides, but TheWrap sought out the opinions of people who can see the special from both a comedic and LGBTQ perspective.

“I’m sure a lot of people will be not happy with it, or have their feelings hurt,” Grillo said. “If you don’t like it, you don’t buy his album or you don’t click on his face. I don’t mean to dismiss his power as an entertainer — I mean, yes, he has a sense of responsibility. But if you look at his whole act, you can say that in many ways, he means well.”

He also talks about an argument he once had with a network standards-and-practices employee that includes him asking, “Why is it that I can say the word n—– with such impunity, but I can’t say the word f—–?”

Chappelle’s point is that there’s a double standard around the slurs. But lesbian comedian Elsa Eli Waithe said that asking the question is “not a good look” for Chappelle.

Read more:https://www.thewrap.com/lgbtq-comedians-respond-to-dave-chappelles-sticks-and-stones/amp/

What do you  guys  funny or very offensive? 

Discuss!

[TheQueenLG 2,469]

What in the literal f*ck is all this f*cking gibberish? 

[geopang 4,831]

His comedy special was hilarious 

[brownie 5]

did you check your post before you clicked publish lmao

[KatieJudasGaga4 67,907]

19 minutes ago, Lilmonzter said:

[sampool 5,560]

His special was funny af.

It was extremely refreshing to watch a show that was unapologetically unfiltered yet humorous and easy to watch.  

 

 

[Lilmonzter 2,864]

3 minutes ago, brownie said:

did you check your post before you clicked publish lmao

 

7 minutes ago, TheQueenLG said:

What in the literal f*ck is all this f*cking gibberish? 

 

3 minutes ago, KatieJudasGaga4 said:

Changed it 

[PartySick 134,435]

6 minutes ago, KatieJudasGaga4 said:

Girl

Clear that quote box  I had to scroll for six thousand years to get here

OT: It was hilarious

[derpmonster 22,412]

Dave Chapelle's show was so tragic honestly 

"The alphabet people"

You really think there's an unwritten rule against annoying us when literally all of history of comedy up until a few years ago and still thrives on gay jokes?

 

And his part about slurs?  Honey, it's not hard to understand. He acts like it's okay to use slurs against black people and not against gay people. That's so untrue. It's only acceptable to say slurs against black people if you're black yourself.

[SEANGT 4,709]

this is how i feel about gay jokes

 

[HoneyB 26,866]

I thought it was pretty funny but I didn’t like the Michael Jackson bit, it just kept going and going and I felt like it wasn’t a necessary thing to joke about overall it was pretty good

[TSUNAMI 20,193]

It's a low invested comedy. Please, bring something new to the table.

[ltlmnstr 2,771]

1 hour ago, derpmonster said:

Dave Chapelle's show was so tragic honestly 

"The alphabet people"

You really think there's an unwritten rule against annoying us when literally all of history of comedy up until a few years ago and still thrives on gay jokes?

 

And his part about slurs?  Honey, it's not hard to understand. He acts like it's okay to use slurs against black people and not against gay people. That's so untrue. It's only acceptable to say slurs against black people if you're black yourself.

He’s from a time when Bush was president. 

It really shows. 

[thatfoxyfeeling 11,998]

I love him and his specials on Netflix, "the alphabet people" skit has some valid points though like I know so many people in the community that segregate themselves. 

[Dukttape 1,437]

2 hours ago, TheQueenLG said:

What in the literal f*ck is all this f*cking gibberish? 

It's called reading comprehension and most people pick it up at 7 years old