Damon Wayans Says Dave Chappelle ‘Freed The Slaves’ By Inspiring Comedians To Speak Their Minds

Damon Wayans Says Dave Chappelle ‘Freed The Slaves’ By Inspiring Comedians To Speak Their Minds

Damon Wayans is supporting Dave Chappelle amid his recent criticism!

As you may recall, Dave Chappelle has received waves of backlash since his latest stand-up special–The Closer–debuted on Netflix last week. In the special, the 48-year-old comedian controversially proclaimed he’s a TERF (trans-exclusionary radical feminist) and doesn’t believe trans women are ‘real’ women:

“I’m team TERF! 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. Now, I am not saying that to say trans women aren’t women, I am just saying that those p*ssies that they got… you know what I mean? I’m not saying it’s not p*ssy, but it’s Beyond P*ssy or Impossible P*ssy. It tastes like p*ssy, but that’s not quite what it is, is it? That’s not blood, that’s beet juice.”

Since The Closer premiered, various organizations have condemned the special and Dave Chappelle. One group, the National Black Justice Coalition, stated:

“With 2021 on track to be the deadliest year on record for transgender people in the United States–the majority of whom are Black transgender people–Netflix should know better. Perpetuating transphobia perpetuates violence. Netflix should immediately pull ‘The Closer’ from its platform and directly apologize to the transgender community.”

However, others like Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos have backed Dave Chappelle and The Closer in the face of many calling for the platform to pull the special. In part, Ted Sarandos supported Dave Chappelle by saying:

“Chappelle is one of the most popular stand-up comedians today, and we have a long standing deal with him… Stand-up comedy exists to push boundaries. Some people find the art of stand-up to be mean-spirited but our members enjoy it, and it’s an important part of our content offering.”

Dave Chappelle

Now, fellow comedian Damon Wayans is also showing support for Dave Chappelle. Yesterday (Monday, Oct. 11th), the paparazzi spotted Damon Wayans at LAX and asked for his opinion on the recent Dave Chappelle controversy. The 61-year-old responded by positively comparing Chappelle to painter Vincent van Gogh and saying comedians “were slaves to PC culture”:

“I feel like Dave freed the slaves. The comedians, they were slaves to PC culture and he just, you know, as an artist, he’s van Gogh. Cut his ear off. He’s trying to tell us it’s okay.”

Damon Wayans

He continued:

“I just think he’s saying ‘Hey you know what, with all that I have, I’m not afraid to lose it for the sake of freedom of speech. You can’t edit yourself.’ Mercedes makes a great car, but they gotta crash a lot of them before they perfect it.”

Damon Wayans then said that, while he can’t speak on The Closer specifically, he thinks the controversy is indicative of a larger conversation being needed:

“I can’t speak about the content of the show, but what I say is there’s a bigger conversation we need to have. Somebody needs to look us in the eye and go ‘You’re no longer free in this country. You’re not free to say what you want–you say what we want you to say, otherwise we will cancel you.’ That’s the discussion we should have.”

What do you think about Damon Wayans’ comments? Share your thoughts down below to let us know!

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