Seattle Pride speaks out against upcoming Dave Chappelle performance

Comedian Dave Chappelle is scheduled to perform at Climate Pledge Arena on New Year’s Eve, but Seattle Pride is calling on the venue to postpone the show until he issues an apology for remarks made in a recent Netflix special.

Dave Chappelle coming to Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena

Chappelle came under fire in the fall following the release of “The Closer” on Netflix, where he described himself as “team TERF,” stating that “gender is a fact.” In the weeks and months to follow, Chappelle has faced criticism from a litany of LGBTQ+ groups, many of which called on Netflix to take the special down. That included comments from the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, which claimed that “Dave Chappelle’s brand has become synonymous with ridiculing trans people and other marginalized communities.”

A handful of Netflix employees also staged a walkout shortly after “The Closer” was released in October. Chappelle defended his statements after that walkout, describing how the situation has become “about corporate interests and what I can and cannot say.”

“For the record, and I need you to know this, everyone I know from that community has been nothing but loving and supportive, so I don’t know what all this nonsense is about,” he said on Instagram.

Moving forward, Seattle Pride is demanding that Climate Pledge Arena “postpone Mr. Chappelle’s performance until he issues a sincere apology to the transgender community and acknowledges the harm he causes when he normalizes anti-transgender beliefs and denies the complexities and nuances of gender.”

“Seattle Pride is concerned that Mr. Chappelle’s purposeful homophobic and transphobic remarks are being given a platform at Seattle’s new Climate Pledge Arena,” the group said in a written release. “The Arena claims to be ‘… the most progressive, responsible, and sustainable arena in the world,’ however we do not see how this can be the case when they are hosting an individual who refuses to acknowledge – and now is further perpetuating – his harmful statements.”

The organization is the primary group behind Seattle’s yearly Pride Parade, dating back to 1974. It also helps “coordinate and promote LGBTQIA+ pride events in the Seattle area.”

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