Dave Chappelle slams Republicans for weaponizing trans jokes

Dave Chappelle has a bone to pick with the Republican Party.

During an interview with "NPR's Newsmakers" released April 15, the comic, 52, said he is not happy with the way he feels Republicans weaponized his controversial jokes about the transgender community.

"I did resent that the Republican Party ran on transgender jokes," he told NPR. "You know, I felt like they were doing a weaponized version of what I was doing. It's not what I was doing."

In particular, Chappelle criticized Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert, who in 2023 posted a selfie with the comedian, alongside Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, with the caption, "Just three people who understand that there's only two genders." Chappelle noted the photo was taken when he was visiting Capitol Hill and taking pictures with everyone who asked.

"Here comes Lauren Boebert," he recalled. "She's like, 'Can I get a picture?' And I had already taken 40 pictures. I didn't want to say no in front of everybody. But I didn't know the phrase, 'I respectfully decline,' so I just took the picture. And then she posts the picture … she instantly weaponized it, or politicized it. … You should never do that to a person like me."

Chappelle has been criticized and faced accusations of transphobia for his jokes about the transgender community in recent years.

In a 2021 Netflix special, "The Closer," the comedian sparked backlash after saying "gender is a fact" and calling himself "team TERF," a term meaning trans exclusionary radical feminist. TERFs "deny the validity of transgender people and transgender identities," Sarah McBride, former national press secretary for the Human Rights Campaign, told USA TODAY at the time.

During the same special, Chappelle also defended J.K. Rowling, the "Harry Potter" author who has similarly been criticized for her anti-trans statements. He maintained, though, that he has "never had a problem with transgender people." Some Netflix employees staged a walkout in 2021 over Chappelle's special, but the streamer stood by him.

Chappelle's 2023 special "The Dreamer" also took a jab at the trans community during a joke where he described meeting Jim Carrey but being frustrated because the actor refused to break character as Andy Kaufman, who he was playing in the film "Man on the Moon."

"I was very disappointed because I wanted to meet Jim Carrey, and I had to pretend this [guy] was Andy Kaufman all afternoon," Chappelle said. "It was clearly Jim Carrey. I could look at him and I could see it was Jim Carrey. Anyway, I say all that to say, that's how trans people make me feel."

In his NPR interview, Chappelle argued the backlash over his trans jokes in his 2021 special was a "media phenomenon," accusing news outlets of "rage-baiting" with the way they covered it.

"They almost reported on it as if I was doing something other than a comedy show," he said. "Reading a joke is a lot different than sitting in a room and hearing it."

Contributing: Elise Brisco and Naledi Ushe, USA TODAY