Dave Chappelle Announces Nationwide Tour After Trans Activists Attempted to Cancel Him

Dave Chappelle looks on during the 2022 NBA All-Star Game at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland on Feb. 20, 2022. (Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)

Comedian Dave Chappelle is hitting the comedy circuit again after trans activists had previously attempted to cancel the megastar in response to his jokes.

The stand-up tour called “Dave Chappelle Live” will open in late August in New York City’s Madison Square Garden and will wrap in October in Chicago, it was first announced Tuesday on Today.

The announcement comes after a group of trans activists attempted to cancel the popular comedian, first over his 2021 Netflix special “The Closer,” which contained jokes about transgenderism. Chappelle’s special was accused of containing transphobic and homophobic content. At the time, transgender Netflix employees hosted a company-wide walkout in protest of the comedian in hopes that the streamer would remove the program.

Initially, then Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos defended Chappelle and the special, noting the streaming platform’s enduring relationship with the comic.

A company memo released to staff read, “Chappelle is one of the most popular stand-up comedians today, and we have a long standing deal with him. His last special ‘Sticks & Stones,’ also controversial, is our most watched, stickiest and most award winning stand-up special to date,” Sarandos wrote. “As with our other talent, we work hard to support their creative freedom — even though this means there will always be content on Netflix some people believe is harmful.”

In a statement to Variety at the time, Netflix said the company encourages employees to “disagree openly” with the sentiment.

Later, Sarandos backtracked and told Variety in an interview that he “screwed up” in the handling of employee concerns and talked more specifically about what the company does and does not consider hate speech.

Hollywood Bowl Attack

The Netflix kerfuffle was not the only incident targeting Chappelle.

Last year, while performing on stage at The Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, the comedian was attacked by a man armed with a knife. The attacker named Isaiah Lee ended up being arrested and charged with four misdemeanors.

Later, Los Angeles Police Department officials told NBC Los Angeles the suspect was armed “with a replica gun that could eject a knife blade when discharged correctly.”

After the incident, Chappelle’s representative said in a statement that the comedian “refuses to allow last night’s incident to overshadow the magic of this historic moment,” while noting that Chappelle’s show tied him with comedy troupe Monty Python as the comedians who have headlined the most performances at that historic venue.

A five-time Emmy award winner, Chappelle is known by his audiences and fans for approaching a wide range of subjects in a thought-provoking manner. He was honored with the 2019 Mark Twain Prize for American Humor and has won the Grammy Award for best comedy for three consecutive years, from 2018 through 2020.