'Dear White People' trended on Twitter after its showrunner called out Dave Chappelle's 'transphobic' comments
- "Dear White People" is trending on Twitter after its showrunner called out Dave Chappelle.
- Jaclyn Moore said she would no longer work with Netflix after Chappelle's "transphobic" remarks.
"Dear White People" is trending on Twitter after people began criticizing the series' showrunner for saying she wouldn't work for Netflix after Dave Chappelle made "transphobic" comments in his recent special on the streaming platform.
Jaclyn Moore, who is transgender, said in a Variety interview and on Twitter Thursday that she would no longer work for the streaming company "as they continue to put out and profit from blatantly and dangerously transphobic content," she wrote. Her tweet has garnered over 1,400 likes and 200 retweets.
Moore was referencing comments made by Chappelle on his latest comedy special, "The Closer," which premiered on Netflix on Tuesday. She told Variety on Thursday that she thinks Chappelle is a "brilliant goofy comedian," but that his comments were "dangerous" and have "real world physical violence repercussions."
"I never loved Dave's trans material before but this time it felt different," Moore told Variety. "This is the first time I felt like, 'Oh, people are laughing at this joke and they're agreeing that it's absurd to call me a woman.'"
In the episode, Chappelle said that "gender is a fact" and that trans womens' genitalia are "not quite what it is," reported Deadline.
He also defended "Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling, who has drawn major criticism in the past for making remarks that have been criticized as transphobic, like saying that allowing trans women to use women's bathrooms will put cis women in danger.
"They canceled J.K. Rowling, my God.. she said gender was fact, the trans community got mad as shit, they started calling her a TERF," he said, referencing "Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminists," a group of people who believe that trans women do not count as women and are still men, among other ideas. "I'm team TERF," Chappelle added.
After her tweet and Variety interview saying she would no longer work with Netflix over the comments, Moore and her show began to face backlash on Friday, as tweets criticized her calling her out for what they perceived as hypocrisy. The phrase "Dear White People" trended with over 14,000 tweets as of Friday afternoon.
Critics referenced that Moore, who is white, executive produced a series about Black Americans. Many detractors appeared to ignore Moore's comments about battling transphobia and instead focused on the racial component.
"So, you are telling me a white woman is the showrunner for Dear White People, a show about the struggles that black Americans face, and is boycotting a black comedian," one user tweeted. "Hmmm, Chappelle has a new bit."
One user tweeted a meme of a white woman putting her hand over a Black woman's mouth while saying that she would save her from white supremacy. "The show runner for 'Dear White People' is literally just this huh," the user tweeted.
Another Twitter user called her decision to boycott the company "peak SJW" - "Social Justice Warrior" is a derogatory term often used by the Right to criticize people who they perceive as too sensitive or politically progressive - and reeled in over 1,300 likes.
Representatives for Moore and Chappelle did not respond to requests for comment.