Dave Chappelle To His Critics: Donate To The Cause Or ‘Shut The F Up Forever’

dave chappelle the closer

Netflix


  • Dave Chappelle’s alma mater was planning on naming a theater after the famed comedian.
  • Due to backlash to The Closer, though, the Duke Ellington School of the Arts decided to postpone the ceremony until April.
  • Chappelle has since taken to Instagram to tell his critics who are opposed to the theater being named after him to donate to the school.

Prior to the release of Dave Chappelle’s Netflix special The Closer, his alma mater — the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Georgetown, Washington D.C. — was planning on renaming a theater after the legendary comedian. However, due to the controversy created by Chappelle’s jokes about the LGBTQ community in the special, the Duke Ellington School of the Arts decided to postpone the renaming of the theater.

Despite this, Chappelle showed up for a Q&A session at the school last week, where he was booed by some and called a “bigot” by others. This led to Chappelle telling the high schoolers that he’s “better than all of them.”

“I’m better than every instrumentalist, artist, no matter what art you do in this school, right now, I’m better than all of you,” Chappelle said.

Now, in the wake of calls to cancel the theater-naming altogether, Chappelle has taken to Instagram to give his critics, and supporters, a choice: donate to the school to voice your concerns OR your support.

“If you object to my receiving this honor, I urge you to donate to the school noting your objection. If you are in favor of the theater being named ‘Chappelle,’ I urge you to donate to the school, noting your approval,” Chappelle wrote on IG.

“Whichever opinion donates the highest collective dollar amount, wins… If by April, those against the ‘Chappelle’ theater exceed the donations of those who are neutral or in favor of the theater being named ‘Chappelle’, I will gladly steal aside. If not, I will happily attend the naming ceremony. And if you don’t care enough to donate… please shut the f–k up, forever.”

While Chappelle has largely been personally fanning the flames of the controversy that surrounds him (and frankly enjoying it in the process), his decision to have people channel their feelings towards him in a way that’s beneficial to his former high school is certainly a respectable one. Let’s see how many people feel passionate enough about their distaste for him to actually do something about it.

RELATED: Twitter Claims Cancel Culture Isn’t Real After Louis C.K., Marilyn Manson, Dave Chappelle Get Nominated For Grammys

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Eric Italiano BroBIble avatar
Eric Italiano is a NYC-based writer who spearheads BroBible's Pop Culture and Entertainment content. He covers topics such as Movies, TV, and Video Games, while interviewing actors, directors, and writers.