The thing I find irritating about Dave Chappelle is that he understands that language matters and that jokes rely on cultural context when it's about something *he* doesn't like, but somehow not... when people are complaining about something he said.
Imagine if Dave Chappelle responded with this amount of grace when trans people or rape survivors said he was making them feel bad
It just makes me so angry, his insistence that when bad things happen to *him* it's a national emergency but when other people have trauma they're just softheaded dumb dumbs
I know a lot of my friends love Chappelle, hell, I used to be a huge fan; but the way he will quit a fucking show over feeling uncomfortable with how white people respond to his humor only to insist that trans people have no right to critique the jokes he makes at their expense
It's not a good look, man
The number of men who have tried to convince me that "he rapes, but he saves" is some brilliant insight and not the same fucking logic that has been used to silence survivors for millennia, I mean fuck you
Sorry, seeing Chappelle's name trending just angries up the blood
I don't get harassed online a lot but one of the few times that angry boys felt compelled to seek me out, and — possibly coincidentally — I got a text telling me I had been doxxed was because Complex reprinted an essay I'd published in my newsletter about Chappelle.
My piece — which, ugh, Complex retitled something like "The Problem with Dave Chappelle's Rape Jokes" — argued only that Chappelle shouldn't call himself a feminist (which he did, at least in this special) if he's going to make "he rapes, but he saves" style jokes
But wow, yeah, Chappelle fans DID NOT LIKE THAT
If Eddie "Raw" Murphy could apologize for being homophobic and making gay jokes in the 1980s all the way back in the 1990s...

I just don't buy this idea that being a comedian means never caring about marginalized groups you may harm https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/PAGE-ONE-After-15-Years-Actor-Apologizes-For-2982557.php
In case you think I'm kidding about men explaining rape jokes to me https://twitter.com/LuxAlptraum/status/845762033148739586
You know who thinks it's "interesting to ponder" the idea that rapists and abusers might be celebrated members of society? PEOPLE WHO HAVEN'T BEEN RAPED AND ABUSED.
Also, like I said, maybe this was all a coincidence, but the fact that I got this text while I was being harassed for merely saying Dave Chappelle shouldn’t call himself a feminist if he’s going to write rape jokes? Not great!
(It says "today" because I took that screenshot immediately after I got the texts three and a half years ago)
It's weird, I didn't actually realize I had so much anger about all this still, but here we are.

I was lucky. That terrifying text was the worst that happened to me. I had friends to advise me on how to protect myself, and a partner who was willing to do the legwork for me.
You can follow @LuxAlptraum.
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