Dave Chappelle says the media is ‘misinterpreting’ his trans jokes

Dave Chappelle said during a recent episode of the “IMO” podcast that the media “misinterprets” his comedy when reporting on his transgender jokes. The stand-up legend urged audiences to allow for a ‘margin of error’ when watching his sets.

“People would think it’s me versus the gay community. I’ve never looked at it that way,” Chappelle said. “I always thought it was the interests of business and culture negotiating themselves. So, you know, most of the people who were critical of what I was doing didn’t seem to be concerned with it. It’s like they had their faces pressed against the glass and were commenting on what we were doing in there, but they weren’t concerned with it.”

“Every opinion you can imagine is represented in a comedy club,” he added. “Every type of person you can imagine does stand-up comedy: transgender stand-up comics, black, white, Asian, every kind of perspective. And we all defend whatever opinion we defend. We would never dream of silencing each other.”

Chappelle explained that between sets, comedians constantly discuss their different points of view and how comedy can be filtered through different cultural lenses. He added that the media has a hard time doing the same and often takes his jokes out of context.

“Nothing makes a comedian crazier than having his joke misread in the newspaper,” Chappelle said. “You know, and reading a joke is nothing more than hearing one or being one, and the intention of a comedy show is a very unique intention. We play with whatever the culture is made of, and we break it down and we either get it right or we get it wrong. But if it’s going to be good or even hopefully great, in all art you have to have a margin for error.”

Chappelle will perform at the Hollywood Palladium during Netflix Is a Joke Fest from May 7-9.