In a leaked clip from a recent Madison Square Garden performance, comedian Dave Chappelle mused, “Ever since that guy Charlie Kirk got murdered, and I shouldn’t say this publicly but … I feel better.”
The precise context of these remarks is as murky as the smuggled recording that was posted on the internet. But what couldn’t be more clear — and ironic — is the effect that Chappelle’s provocations had on right-wing activists.
The joke, if we can even call it that, was abhorrent considering Kirk was brutally publicly assassinated. Yet Chappelle makes many abhorrent jokes about many different people. MAGA’s response to this one in particular reminds us of two things: They have woefully misunderstood Chapelle’s true brand, and many of them behave as if the First Amendment contains a Charlie Kirk carve-out.
MAGA’s response to this one in particular reminds us that they behave as if the First Amendment contains a Charlie Kirk carve-out.
When it comes to vicious quips about the LGBTQ community, Black people, Jews, Asian Americans or people with disabilities — if you ask your average MAGA enthusiast, those are cast as thought-provoking, healthy and constitutionally protected forms of expressive liberty.
But any invidious reference to the assassinated Kirk is beyond the pale, dangerous and potentially punishable by jail time or the revocation of one’s visa.
Kirk’s widow, Erika, posted on X: “To see leftist podcasters, comedians, and commentators laugh about political assassination as though it’s entertainment and the destruction of a human life is a punchline, is beyond disgusting. … Political violence must never be something this country tolerates, excuses, or celebrates.”
Elon Musk, ever the arbiter of kindness, posted, “Dave Chappelle is cruel.” Far-right commentator Matt Walsh called Chappelle “a soulless goblin,” “a monstrosity,” “a maggot eaten corpse,” a “morally disfigured beast” and on his podcast seemingly seriously suggested he be arrested and deported. Comedian Rob Schneider rebuked his friend: “Dave, you are now a champion of senseless violence who embodies the base ugliness of our body politic. Nobody deserves to die for engaging in conversation. And no one should ‘feel better’ after the violent murder of a husband, a father, a son and a friend. No human being deserves that.”
If we can overlook the fact that Kirk’s discourse was pervaded by extreme cruelty, the most generous reading of this wave of outrage would be that MAGA ethics dictate never to make jokes about recently murdered people. But that doesn’t stand up when you consider there was no outrage on the right when manosphere comedian Tony Hinchcliffe joked during the Netflix Kevin Hart roast, “Right now, George Floyd is looking up at us all, laughing so hard that he can’t breathe.”
Internet sleuths were quick to note that Chappelle returned the favor at MSG when he exclaimed about Kirk, “I’m sure he’s looking up at us right now, laughing so hard he can’t breathe.” The clapback was so pointed that I wonder if the intention of Chappelle’s entire bit was simply to execute an in-house comedic revenge killing on a right-wing colleague. Then again, Chappelle has been lighting Kirk up pretty consistently, as he did in his special “The Unstoppable.”
This whole episode speaks to how the art form of comedy has become weaponized in the dispute about free speech. Let’s not forget that while the right excoriated Chappelle for joking about Kirk, it lionized him for his long-running and mean-spirited digs at the LGBTQ community — trans people in particular.
Back when Chappelle was dragging “The Alphabet people” in specials like “The Closer” and “The Dreamer,” MAGA was right there to defend his artistry in the name of comedy’s noble contrarian calling. The National Review bemoaned progressive extremists “outraged by Chappelle’s carefully considered thoughts on transgenderism.” Musk complained that “too much sensitivity around offending almost anyone is killing comedy.” Kirk himself praised the embattled stand-up: “Dave Chappelle exposes the truth about trans as only he can. This is brilliant. WATCH:”
This whole episode speaks to how the art form of comedy has become weaponized in the dispute about free speech.
Chappelle and his fans might be inclined to view this latest Kirk controversy as vindication — but maybe they shouldn’t. The stand-up has been unapologetic and dismissive when repeatedly confronted with charges of transphobia and homophobia. What MAGA does not seem to grasp, they allege, is that Chappelle is an “equal-opportunity offender,” a comic who pillories both the left-leaning LGBTQ community and the right-wing bubble where Kirk is revered as a saint.
As Jef Rouner wrote of the equal-opportunity defender defense that comedians often plead: “It’s a lie because all art is a choice. Being that there are a near-infinite number of things to joke about and an equally near-infinite number of ways to tell those jokes, at some point a comedian must by necessity narrow that field down to what they care the most about.”
Art is about choices, and I sincerely doubt Chappelle would choose to make acerbic jokes about Floyd. I am truly happy that he does not. His video about Floyd’s murder, “8:46,” is by Chappelle’s own reckoning “not funny at all.”
My point isn’t necessarily that certain forms of critical speech should be prohibited (though I’ve argued in my scholarship that this scenario is closer than people think). But given the MAGA backlash against this one joke, and not against the many other offensive jokes Chappelle has made about others, we should forever doubt their commitment to expressive liberty.
And whether we like it or not, artists like Chappelle will continue to transgress as they see fit. They must fully accept, however, that censure, public opprobrium and loss of revenue are legitimate responses to tasteless jokes. Not that such considerations are likely to stop a celebrity as successful or as wealthy as Chappelle anytime soon.
The post How a leaked Dave Chappelle joke exposed MAGA’s thin-skinned hypocrisy appeared first on MS NOW.
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