Dave Chabelle just called out Republicans for, in his words, weaponizing his transgender jokes.

And that's just one of the things that's blown up today with this whole new NPR interview he did. Let's start with this trans jokes controversy, which was sparked by his Netflix special to closer, though definitely not limited to that. And in the special, among other things, he referenced J.K. Rowling, saying gender is a fact. And then added himself, I'm Team Turf. I agree. Gender is a fact. With that and other parts resulting in Netflix employees actually holding a walkout and protests and the backlash was huge. But it became one of the defining moments of the culture war around comedy and transgender rights. With it then also being something Dave returned to and other specials and other places. But in this NPR interview you had Dave saying the whole thing was just blown out of proportion. So much of that was a media phenomenon. Mm-hmm.

What was happening in actual life

versus how the media was reporting on my show.

And I feel like the way they were put on that show

was rage baiting to some degree.

They almost reported on it as if I was doing something

other than a comedy show.

And then you had Chappelle going directly at the Republican Party.

And I did resent that the Republican Party ran on transgender jokes.

You know, I felt like they were doing a weaponized version of what I was doing.

I didn't, I didn't, it's not what I was doing. Chappelle then also told the story of being on Capitol Hill and saying, you know, he was taking photos with whoever asked, dozens of people without knowing their politics. And then, here comes Lauren Bobert. And she said, can I get a picture? And I'd already taken 40 pictures. I didn't want to say no for everybody. but I didn't know the phrase I respectfully declined.

So I just took the picture and then she posts a picture before I could even get from there to the show and says something to the effect of just two people that knew that is just too generous. She instantly

like weaponized it or politicizing. So I got to the arena and I lit her ass up for doing that.

And that post from Bobert's actually still up. And at the time, you had a lot of people seeing Dave smiling with her and assuming that he'd gone maga. But at least, based on what he's saying now, he's saying that was never his intent. And well, you've seen a decent amount of people celebrating him going after Republicans, though a lot of Republicans not loving that. You also have people pushing back on Chappelle here saying that he's rewriting history, that he's kind of trying to manipulate the narrative.

And then also with that, arguing that he was already using Republican talking points in his material, so he shouldn't be surprised by the audience that followed. But then you also saw people defending Dave's argument saying that there is a difference between a comedian working through ideas on a stage and a political party that's turning those ideas into campaign messaging. But that also wasn't the only controversy that he addressed. There was also the backlash over performing

at the Riyadh Comedy Festival in Saudi Arabia where critics accused him and other comedians of turning a blind eye to human rights abuses for a paycheck.

The United States government does business with the Saudis. Netflix does business with the Saudis. Everyone,

Saudis financed tons of movies.

All these things.

I know I see them financing boxing matches and all these things.

And none of these things were an issue until I went there.

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