Patton Oswalt Defends Performing with Dave Chappelle After Woke Backlash
Patton Oswalt has defended performing with fellow comedian Dave Chappelle in Seattle on New Year’s Eve, calling him a long-time friend and the “funniest [comedian] I’ve ever met.” But Oswalt also issued a caveat, assuaging triggered fans by saying he disagrees “100 percent” with Chappelle on the transgender controversy.
“I’m an LGBTQ ally. I’m a loyal friend,” the left-wing comedian said in a recent series on Instagram posts.
Oswalt implied he came under social mediaa criticism for praising Chappelle and posting a series of photos with him backstage. “I ended the year with a real friend and a deep laugh. Can’t ask for much more,” Oswalt wrote on Saturday.
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The following day, however, Oswalt posted a follow-up message in which he both defended Chappelle but also noted he diverges with his friend on the transgender debate.
“We also 100% disagree about transgender rights & representation,” Oswalt wrote. “I support trans peoples’ rights — ANYONE’S rights — to live safely in the world as their fullest selves. For all the things he’s helped ME evolve on, I’ll always disagree with where he stands NOW on transgender issues.”
Chappelle has never said he believes transgender people shouldn’t live safely. In his shows, the comedian has made jokes about transgender genitalia and the antagonism between him and increasingly authoritarian LGBTQ activists. For that, the mainstream media have branded him as being anti-trans, even though he has repeatedly said he has transgender friends.
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Patton Oswalt also expressed remorse for cutting off friends over politics, though he also implied that he is on the right side of the argument by saying those friends are ignorant.
“I’ve been carrying a LOT of guilt about friends I’ve cut off, who had views with which I couldn’t agree, or changed in ways I couldn’t live with,” he wrote. “Sometimes I wonder — did I and others cutting them off make them dig their heels in deeper, fuel their ignorance with a nitro-boost of resentment and spite?”
Oswalt has taken a series of far-left radical positions in recent years. He has publicly defended the violent Antifa, comparing the left-wing group that physically assaults conservatives to U.S. troops landing in Normandy in World War II.
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