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Dave Chappelle has never seen a controversy he doesn’t want to tackle head-on. And in his latest comedy special on Netflix, he proves that to be right once again by addressing the homophobic comments made by DaBaby as well as the response to them.
In the early moments of The Closer, Chappelle lets the audience know that he approached this taping with “an objective” that ties into his previous specials on the streaming giant. “I came here tonight because this body of work that I’ve done on Netflix, I’m going to complete,” he began. “All the questions you might have had about all these jokes I’ve said in the last few years, I hope to answer tonight. And I’d like to start by addressing the [LGBTQ] community directly. I want every member of that community to know that I come here tonight in peace and I hope to negotiate the release of DaBaby.”
Chappelle continued by conceding that the Blame It On Baby artist messed up with the rant he issued at the Rolling Loud Miami festival that took place in August. “Now, you know I go hard in the paint, but even I saw that shit and was like, ‘Goddamn, DaBaby,’” Chappelle said. “He pushed the button, didn’t he? He pushed the button, punched the [LGBTQ] community right in the AIDS. Can’t do that, can’t do that. But I do believe—and I’ll make this point later—that the kid made a very egregious mistake. I will acknowledge that. But, you know, a lot of the [LGBTQ] community doesn’t know DaBaby’s history. He’s a wild guy.” That last part was a reference to the 2018 fatal shooting incident at a North Carolina Walmart that the rapper was allegedly involved in, comparing it to the homophobic rant as he led into his next line to the audience. In our country, you can shoot and kill a n***a but you better not hurt a gay person’s feelings,” Chappelle remarked.
At that point, he ended that segment with a rhetorical question he wound up answering himself.
“This is a real question, and I’m not joking around, is it possible that a gay person can be racist?” he said. “Of course it’s possible. Look at Mike Pence.”
