Dave Chappelle has chosen an interesting hill to die on. He’s gone all-in on the anti-trans beat, choosing to disparage a minority whose very existence is already under attack by the Republican party. His comments have inspired walk-outs at Netflix, who’ve aired many of his specials, and appalled fellow comics. Now they’ve gotten one of his shows cancelled at the last minute ¬— and at a place that is a major part of musical/cinematic history.
As per Deadline, on Wednesdsay, Minneapolis’ First Avenue announced they were pulling out of a sold out show mere hours before it was to start. The reason? Social media backlash over his continued jokes about the transgender community. The show will still go on; it was just moved to the nearby Varsity Theater.
“We believe in diverse voices and the freedom of artistic expression, but in honoring that, we lost sight of the impact this would have,” read a post on First Avenue’s Instagram feed. “We know that there are some who will not agree with this decision; you are welcome to send feedback.”
First Avenue, incidentally, isn’t just any old Minneapolis venue. It’s the joint where Prince repeatedly plays in Purple Rain, his beloved debut film, banging out the title song and many more bangers.
The news comes a week after Chappelle had better news: He’d received an Emmy nomination for The Closer, the Netflix show that inspired a firestorm whose flames he didn’t exactly not fan.
(Via Deadline)