Transphobia: a Weird Hill to Die On!

When I write about Dave Chappelle, something I do fairly often because I think he’s endlessly fascinating and unmistakably important, commenters sometimes depict him as a fading talent who cynically co-opted reactionary obsessions as way of staying relevant and finding a new audience. 

I find this assertion deeply wrong. When Chappelle returned to stand-up after an extended absence he was received not just as a a peerless comic genius who walked away at the height of his fame, success and power but rather as something closer to a modern-day philosopher, a guru.

You know, like that other preeminent super-genius Louis CK. I should know. I was the one calling them philosophers and geniuses for the ages! 

Chappelle wasn’t just treated with respect. He was treated with reverence, as someone we should really listen to and hear, because he had profound insights into the world around us and the human condition. 

The Half Baked star had so much goodwill going into the awful crucible of the Trump years that he could lose more goodwill than most entertainers could hope to attain over the course of infinite lifetimes and STILL have an awful lot of goodwill left. 

Chappelle wasn’t a fading figure when he decided to get into the transphobic comedy market big time with various Netflix specials; he was a giant at the height of his enormous power and influence. 

The Chappelle’s Show co-creator chose to pivot into mocking the trans community when he could have gone in any direction. And he chose to double down again and again, most recently in a surprise special (oh goodie!) where he referred to teenagers criticizing him as “instruments of oppression” and said of his controversial special The Closer, “I challenge all my peers to make its equal. They cannot, I am sure. It will be decades before you ever see someone in my genre as proficient as me. I am maybe a once-in-a-lifetime talent.”

I think Chappelle genuinely means what he says when it comes to the trans community but I think he’s fueled in no small part by anger over the idea that an artist of his stature is being pilloried by philistines and fools, kids and the egregiously untalented. 

Motherfucker CHOSE to die on this very weird hill. The same is true of Notorious TERF J.K. Rowling. It would have been VERY easy for Rowling to die a beloved figure, a strong-willed, brilliant woman who created a world that made billions and transfixed tens of millions.

Rowling could have had it all but she chose to throw it all away for the sake of transphobia. She’s utterly committed to what she sees as the righteous cause of “protecting” and “defending” women, to the point that she has allowed her commitment to transphobia and bigotry to define her as a public figure. 

She could be anything but she chose to be professionally transphobic the same way that Chappelle did. On a similar note, Kanye West has had a VERY long half decade to very publicly, dramatically and permanently distance himself from Donald Trump and Candace Owens, to depict his enthusiasm for their ideas as the result of mental illness or drugs or famously terrible judgment. 

But he has not. Instead he double downed. The man ran for President as a way of splitting the black vote against Joe Biden and continues to parrot right-wing talking points. 

Here’s the thing: Rowling, Chappelle and West can afford to spend the rest of their lives and careers on this unfortunate hill before ultimately dying on it. Rowling and West are billionaires. They don’t have to work another day in their lives. Chappelle has tens of millions of dollars. Becoming the transphobia guy has hurt Chappelle’s career and image in some ways but it has not destroyed it by any stretch of the imagination. In some ways he’s doing as well as ever. 

Being both willing and able to die on the weird hill that the lives of the trans community should be made harder through your words and actions is a luxury available to the very, very rich, deeply misguided and pathologically stubborn. 

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