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“IT'S ABOUT EMPATHY" [5:20]
Point 3
Chappelle claims that making jokes about sexual assault allows him to express his empathy for the victims, similarly to how he uses comedy to “find solace”, however this does not translate over in his comical practice. Due to his jokes disrespecting sexual assault survivors when he defends Bill Cosby and accuses them of trying to ruin his career, the audience is unlikely to see that he is empathetic to the #MeToo movement. Instead, they may see him as a misogynist, who feels nothing for these women and only feels empathy for the assaulter, as he idolises him. It also makes him hypocritical, as he asks the heckler in his stand-up to empathise with his suffering, and yet will not empathise with women’s. This is where comedy can be subjectively dangerous, as not all consumers will interpret these jokes as empathetic.