Comedian Dave Chappelle won best comedy album at the 2023 Grammy awards.
The award was presented during the show’s premiere ceremony, which is not broadcast on television. The official awards show began being broadcast at 8:00 p.m.
Chappelle’s special — The Closer, which premiered on Netflix in October 2021 — sparked outrage with the LGBT community and was slammed repeatedly by critics as “transpobic.” Outrage over the special even led to internal problems for the streaming company, when several hundred staffers staged an office walkout in response to the program’s release.
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“Dave Chappelle doesn’t get to suck the joy out of this moment. This is a moment where we are coming together in a unified effort,” activist Ashlee Marie Preston reportedly said at the rally. “This is a moment where we understand that it’s one for all and all for one and we won’t stop until justice is brought.”
Netflix issued a statement following the walkout saying that the company appreciated the staffers’ position on this issue, declined to remove the special.
“We value our trans colleagues and allies, and understand the deep hurt that’s been caused. We respect the decision of any employee who chooses to walk out, and recognize we have much more work to do both within Netflix and in our content.”
In a video response to backlash, Chapelle said he would be open to meeting with transgender employees at Netflix if they watch the special all the way through, allow him to choose the time and place, and admit that Australian comedian Hannah Gadsby is not funny. The Gadsby remark was a reference to the comments he made in the controversial special.
The win has already elicited a response on social media.
“Wow. Grammys really don’t care; one year after giving an award to admitted harasser Louis C.K., they gave one to Dave Chappelle’s homophobic and transphobic Netflix special. Sigh,” wrote NPR TV critic Eric Deggans.
Wow. Grammys really don’t care; one year after giving an award to admitted harasser Louis C.K., they gave one to Dave Chappelle’s homophobic and transphobic Netflix special. Sigh. https://t.co/ItUIFV7WRH
— Eric Deggans at NPR (@Deggans) February 5, 2023
“The fact that #DaveChappelle won an @RecordingAcad Grammy for being #transphobic makes me ill and helps me lose faith in award shows that much more,” wrote one transgender woman.
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Another user claimed, “The Grammys actively support transphobia, bigotry and, by previous years, sexual assault.”
