Dave Chappelle Receives Grammy For ‘The Closer’

In recent times, comedian Dave Chappelle has been in the headlines for his new special, The Closer. Some sets in the special became particularly controversial as the transgender community was taken aback and offended by his material. During the 2023 Grammy Awards function, though, Dave Chappelle received the Best Comedy Album award trumping Louis CK, Jim Gaffigan, Randy Rainbow, and Patton Oswalt. This win becomes Chappelle’s fourth grammy award win in his career. The comedian wasn’t present at the award ceremony to personally take the award home, and so it was taken by a substitute, the presenter, Babyface.

About The Controversy

 Both Louis CK and Chappelle have been controversial figures, with the former having a history of sexual misconduct and the latter with material that focused on the transgender community. Regardless, the voters vote for the comedians they enjoy. Speaking on the matter, Harvey Mason Jr, the CEO of Recording Academy, said:

“We don’t control who the voters vote for.” He told The Hollywood Reporter. “We’re never going to be in the business of deciding someone’s moral position or where we evaluate them to be on the scale of morality. I think our job is to evaluate the art and the quality of the art. We can make sure that all of our spaces are safe and that people don’t feel threatened by anyone. But as far as the nominations or the awards, we really let the voters make that decision.”

The Closer

Chappelle’s special The Closer was released on Netflix on 5th October 2021. The comedian showed support for rapper DaBaby’s homophobic comments as well as aligned himself with Harry Potter author J.K Rowling in not acknowledging trans women as women. He considers himself a part of team TERF, an acronym for “trans-exclusionary radical feminist.” 

The comedian has also received significant backlash from the black LGBTQ community for not acknowledging the struggles the black people within the LGBTQ world and not addressing the racism they face. 

Chappelle was applauded later on at a screening of his documentary Untitled: Dave Chappelle Documentary. The screening was attended by many A-listers from Hollywood at the Hollywood Bowl in LA. Overjoyed at the moment, Dave Chappelle declared that he didn’t care about being canceled,

“Fuck Twitter. Fuck NBC News, ABC News, and all these stupid ass networks. I’m not talking to them. I’m talking to you. This is real life.”

Netflix and The Special

The special was criticized by many, and Netflix was asked to take the special down after the cancellation by the public. However, Netflix CEO stood by Chappelle and the special in a statement he provided to his staff:

“Content onscreen doesn’t directly translate to real-world harm.” 

Following the statement, a number of Netflix employees did a virtual walkout in protest of the decision at a public rally in Los Angeles. Later, CEO Sarandos re-iterated his statement calling his previous statement ‘lacked humanity’ and admitted that ‘content onscreen can have an impact in the real world, positive and negative.’ However, he still stuck by his decision as it promoted the free expression that Netflix stands for.

Overall, the special has had a varied impact on the people. The trans community and Dave Chappelle’s conflict is not unheard of and is only being furthered by the new special. However, Chappelle and his supporters stand by the material. The Grammy award is also surrounded by controversy since it was given to Chappell in the wake of criticism. However, the clash of inappropriate material and free expression is detrimental to art, and this notion is accepted and considered by the entertainment industry as well as Dave Chappelle himself.