The controversy does not fall.

A true legend in the United States for his ferocious observations of racial inequalities, the comic Dave Chappelle has been accused for years of transphobia.

And in his latest show,

The Closer

, which launched on Netflix last week, he added a layer of it.

Faced with calls for boycott and deprogramming, the platform defended the comedian on Monday.

And cracked down on overly vocal employees.

Even if he assures that he has "no problem" with trans people, Dave Chappelle can not help, for a very long time, often inserting two or three jokes or nasty remarks in his shows ("It's still a guy with a dress "," At least they go to the end of their convictions, they cut their b ** e "," It's

white privilege

, Bruce Jenner had less trouble changing gender than Cassius Clay his fucking name ”).

"Dangerous" words

In 2016, Netflix signed a mega-contract worth over $ 20 million with Netflix and released six shows on the streaming platform.

In what could be - for now - his latest,

The Closer

, he swears at first that he will stop talking about the trans community. But a few minutes later, he goes into a tirade about gender: “Gender is a fact. Every human in this room, every human being on Earth had to go through a woman's legs to be on Earth. It is a fact, ”he says in particular. In passing, he takes up the defense of British author JK Rowling, accused by some last year of having made insulting remarks against transgender people on Twitter, by claiming to be “Team Terf”, for "Trans-exclusionary radical feminist".

These statements were not to the liking of LGBTQ advocacy groups, such as the National Black Justice Coalition, which asked Netflix to deprogram this show.

Jaclyn Moore, the show-runner of

Dear White People

, a series airing on the platform, has sworn she will no longer work for Netflix "as long as they promote dangerous transphobic content"

Three suspended employees

In a memo to employees, Ted Sarandos, the group's co-executive director, said Dave Chappelle's work did not amount to "hate" and that the company would not withdraw the program, according to Variety, which was able to consult the document.

“Some talent could join with third parties in asking us to delete the show in the coming days, which we will not do,” the memo said, adding that Dave Chappelle is one of the most popular artists around. .

“We don't allow (on) Netflix programs designed to incite hatred or violence, and we don't believe

The Closer

crosses that line.

"I recognize, however, that it is difficult to distinguish between the comment and the insult, especially with the stand-up that exists to push the limits", we still read.

According to

Variety

, three employees who had invited themselves to a virtual executive meeting to protest the show have been suspended.

They were punished for attending a meeting to which they were not invited, and not for criticizing the program, says the magazine.

  • Humorist

  • Transgender

  • Netflix

  • Culture