Jay-Z has defended Dave Chappelle following the backlash over his latest comedy special that included an array of transphobic comments.
The Closer, which was released on Netflix on 5 October, has faced widespread criticism from the LGBTQ+ community because of the remarks it features.
“They cancelled J.K. Rowling — my God. [Effectively] she said gender was a fact, the trans community got mad as shit, they started calling her a TERF,” Chappelle says.
The term “TERF” references “trans-exclusionary radical feminists” whose views are widely seen as transphobic.
After making jokes about the bodies of trans women, he goes on to say: “Gender is a fact. Every human being in this room, every human being on earth, had to pass through the legs of a woman to be on earth. That is a fact.”
Despite this, Chappelle then claims that he is “not saying that to say trans women aren’t women” and that “people who watch his specials would know that I never had a problem with transgender people”.
This, along with Netflix’s response to criticism of the special, resulted in staff at the streaming giant staging a walkout in protest of it on 20 October.
Chappelle recently delivered Jay-Z’s induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in which he called the artist an example of “Black excellence”.
In a Twitter Spaces conversation on 5 November, the 99 Problems hitmaker hailed the comedian as a “super genius” who is “brilliant”.
“I think that Dave is super brave and super genius,” Jay-Z said. “If you spend time with him, he’s brilliant.”
When asked a question by Craig Jenkins, a music critic at Vulture, the star acknowledged that Chappelle had “pushed a lot of buttons” before signalling his discomfort with some of his material through a series of unimpressed sounds.
Jay-Z calls Dave Chappelle “brilliant” while speaking on the controversial special “The Closer” pic.twitter.com/khAMFsTyMY
— 🦃jordan (@JustJordan_925) November 5, 2021
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