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dave chappelle: the age of spin [4]
Dave Chappelle's stand-up ‘The Age of Spin’ takes a different route to addressing #MeToo comically. Unlike Katherine Ryan who makes it clear that she supports victims of sexual assault, Chappelle’s standpoint is not so clear. He jokes about the situation surrounding the Bill Cosby controversy, such as the number of women he raped. He says “mans’ putting up real numbers” [48:37] and “if rapes were aircraft this nigga is top-gun for sure”. [49:19] Here he does not appear to empathise with victims, but instead he gives the impression that these numbers are something admirable. In saying “real numbers”, it echoes how men are proud of the number of women they have slept with, however here, the sex was rape. Chappelle never explicitly condemns Cosby, and even defends him, suggesting that these women were trying to ruin his career, an interpretation he holds because Cosby was a hero to him, as a black man. This does not present him as a person empathetic to the #MeToo movement, and instead presents him as a ‘himpathist’ and a rape apologist.
Furthermore, Chappelle also gives the impression that he does not care if he offends people, which makes his claims about finding solace in art (as discussed in his interview) selfish. He says when talking about a situation with a heckler, that he felt “not bad about what I was saying, I just felt bad because... she didn’t like the show”. [50:03] In this statement he completely dismisses the offence that his controversial comedy causes to victims of sexual assault, further suggesting that he does not empathise with their plight. These elements question whether offensive comedy is effective, as some find it funny, while others, like the heckler, clearly do not.
Furthermore, Chappelle also gives the impression that he does not care if he offends people, which makes his claims about finding solace in art (as discussed in his interview) selfish. He says when talking about a situation with a heckler, that he felt “not bad about what I was saying, I just felt bad because... she didn’t like the show”. [50:03] In this statement he completely dismisses the offence that his controversial comedy causes to victims of sexual assault, further suggesting that he does not empathise with their plight. These elements question whether offensive comedy is effective, as some find it funny, while others, like the heckler, clearly do not.