The Closer

Dave Chappelle spends his sixth and final special under his 2016 Netflix deal litigating his own public reputation, focusing almost entirely on his ongoing dispute with the LGBTQ+ community. On stage, he acts less like a stand-up looking for laughs and more like a seasoned orator delivering a defensive, sometimes solemn manifesto. His primary angle is comparing the speed of social progress for queer communities with the slower pace of racial justice in America, using the platform to argue that his critics have systematically misread his intent.

Filmed over a seven-show run at The Fillmore Detroit in August 2021, the performance operates as a direct sequel to the controversies of his previous specials. Chappelle uses high-profile cultural flashpoints to make his points, notably comparing the industry’s reaction to rapper DaBaby’s homophobic comments with the lack of consequences after the same rapper fatally shot a man in a North Carolina Walmart. He also aligns himself with author J.K. Rowling, explicitly declaring himself “Team TERF” during a sequence about the physical reality of gender. The show culminates in a long, personal story about his friendship with the late transgender comic Daphne Dorman, who died by suicide in 2019 after defending him online.

The special’s release sparked an immediate, highly publicized crisis for Netflix, including organized employee walkouts and widespread calls for its removal from the platform. While critics criticized the material for being repetitive, company executives defended Chappelle under the banner of artistic freedom, and the program ultimately went on to receive two Primetime Emmy nominations.