Netflix is now streaming Dave Chappelle's recent school speech, and he addresses the backlash ignited by his last comedy special

• Dave Chappelle appeared at his alma mater last month for a theater-naming ceremony.
• His speech is now streaming on Netflix, and he addressed the backlash to his last Netflix special.

Netflix dropped a new Dave Chappelle item, titled "What's in a Name?," on its service this week, more than eight months after it faced criticism over comments about the trans community the comedian made in his latest Netflix special, "The Closer."

This isn't a new comedy special, though. It's a 40-minute speech Chappelle gave last month for a theater-naming ceremony at his alma mater, Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, DC.

A theater at the school was set to be named after Chappelle, but he declined after reaction to "The Closer," and it will instead be named the Theater for Artistic Freedom and Expression. The naming ceremony was originally set to take place last year, but it was delayed amid the "Closer" backlash.

In "The Closer," Chappelle said that gender is "a fact," and defended Harry Potter author JK Rowling, who has made transphobic comments in the past. The special sparked criticism from Netflix staffers after it debuted on the service in October, and LGBTQ+ employees planned a walkout.

But Netflix has stuck by Chappelle, who was among the headliners for its "Netflix Is a Joke" comedy festival this year.

In an interview with The New York Times in May, co-CEO Ted Sarandos said that he is "the most popular comedian on Netflix for sure" and that it's "very important to the American culture generally to have free expression."

In "What's in a Name?," Chappelle addressed the backlash towards him.

"The more you say I can't say something, the more urgent it is for me to say it," he said. "And it has nothing to do with what you're saying I can't say. It has everything to do with my right, my freedom of artistic expression. That is valuable to me."

He said that when he came back to the school after "The Closer" was released, he asked students what he did wrong and "a line formed."

"These kids had everything to say about gender and this and that and the other, but they didn't say anything about art," Chappelle said during the speech. "And this is my biggest gripe with this whole controversy with 'The Closer': that you cannot report on an artist's work and remove artistic nuance from his words."