Comedian Patton Oswalt, known also for being an actor and screenwriter, is currently facing backlash on Twitter after defending working with Dave Chappelle. Earlier this year, Chappelle was in controversy after his comedy special was released on Netflix. In the special, he made some jokes towards the LGBTQ community, specifically against the transgender community. This resulted in Netflix employees walking out and many believing his content should be removed from Netflix all together.
https://twitter.com/VitoGesualdi/status/1477912756946755584?s=20
Recently, Oswalt had a comedy show close to where Chappelle would be holding a comedy show as well. So, the two held a show together, where Oswalt posted a photo. He noted that he “I ended the year with a real friend and a deep laugh. Can’t ask for more.” However, there was soon controversy, where he then posted a post to clarify the comedy show and the photo between the two. In this post, he notes that he and Chappelle are friends, although they “100% disagree about transgender rights & representation.” In this post, he seems to note that he did not mean to cause any hurt, and did not see any issue with the photograph between him and Chappelle.
https://twitter.com/mijo_gene_armi/status/1478047467484565508?s=20
Many were divided on Oswalt’s post, some thinking that the extra post from Oswalt was unnecessary and was not the best move of friendship to Chappelle. Others disagreed with this completely, believing allies to the LGBT community would not have performed with Chappelle.
“I’m sorry, truly sorry, that I didn’t consider the hurt this would cause. Or the depth of that hurt.”
Weak man @pattonoswalt writes a long groveling apology in the form of an essay after posing in a photograph with comedian Dave Chapelle. pic.twitter.com/GvTB4e2JDH
— Andy Ngô ????️???? (@MrAndyNgo) January 3, 2022
Overall, the entire situation seemed to have many divided. Some believed that comedy is comedy, and should not be something to be offended by. Others reiterated that comedy can be funny without hurting anybody or making someone feel uncomfortable.
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Claiming Dave Chappelle is 100% opposed to trans rights is a lie.
There are few things more contemptible than denigrating one's friends, especially very talented people, for the sake of low-quality strangers.— Michael Malice (@michaelmalice) January 3, 2022
Patton Oswalt should be ashamed for supporting Dave Chappelle
Comedy is *not* about making people laugh, its about family and being safehttps://t.co/rnO4qztjEG pic.twitter.com/5ovMA0MrfQ
— Tim Pool (@Timcast) January 3, 2022
As mentioned, many were divided within comments, as the Dave Chappelle controversy was very big earlier in the year, especially as Chappelle doubled down on his beliefs and did not apologize when asked to and that Netflix did not remove his specials. Overall, the situation seems to be quite controversial and has a lot of differing opinions
