A new moniker will soon be bestowed upon the student theatre at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, District of Columbia. However, contrary to what was stated by the comic himself on Monday night, the theatre will not be named after Dave Chappelle, who graduated from the institution.
Chappelle made the news during a performance at a dedication ceremony, as was first reported by the Washington Post. During his visit, Chappelle revealed that the theatre in question would be named the Theater for Artistic Freedom and Expression.
As was previously reported, the first word of the then-imminent renaming occurred during conversations around Chappelle’s Netflix special The Closer, which many people, including students at Duke Ellington, criticised for as transphobic.
Chappelle responded to these criticisms on Monday, as reported by Josh Rogin, a columnist for the Washington Post and a CNN analyst. Chappelle stated that the reporting on The Closer lacked “artistic nuance,” and he compared the criticism of the special to the vandalism of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa painting.
#Breaking: At the naming ceremony just now, Dave Chappelle announced he is not placing his name on the Duke Ellington High School theater after all and instead he decided it shall be called the Theater for Artistic Freedom and Expression.
— Josh Rogin (@joshrogin) June 21, 2022
Chappelle rejected the criticism from students of his special The Closer, saying they didn’t know him and were just repeating someone else’s agenda:
“These kids didn’t understand that they were instruments of oppression.”
— Josh Rogin (@joshrogin) June 21, 2022
Chappelle said his special The Closer was unfairly portrayed in the press:
“You cannot report on an artist’s work and remove artistic nuance.”
He said it would be like reporting a large rabbit shot a man in the face without telling people it was a Bugs Bunny cartoon.
— Josh Rogin (@joshrogin) June 21, 2022
Dave Chappelle: “I saw in the newspaper that a man who was dressed in women’s clothing threw a pie at the Mona Lisa and tried to deface it. And it made me laugh and I thought, it’s like The Closer.”
— Josh Rogin (@joshrogin) June 21, 2022
A representative from the Duke Ellington School of the Arts said, in a statement that was made public in November of 2016, in response to what the school described as “inaccurate” viral stories that were “devoid of context,” that the institution intended to use the larger debate as an opportunity to teach its students a lesson.
“Our purpose is not to form a uniformity of viewpoints, but to help instill genuine, respectful curiosity in perspectives that challenge one’s own,” the school said at the time. “The debates among some Ellington students largely mirror those that exist across Washington, D.C., and the country as a whole.”
As Chappelle has continued to defend the content in issue, he has also been subjected to increasing amounts of criticism, notably from a number of other comedians. For instance, Jerrod Carmichael was just just interviewed by GQ Hype, and during that conversation, he spoke into length on the dissatisfaction that the current age of Chappelle has caused for some of his longtime followers.
“Chappelle, do you have any idea what people find when they Google your name, bro? Is that the inheritance? Carmichael stated. “Your legacy consists of a collection of thoughts about trans sh*t? It’s a strange mountain to go to your grave on.”
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His Net Worth
Dave Chappelle is a well-known comedian, actor, screenwriter, and producer from the United States, and he has a net worth of sixty million dollars.
Dave has spent his career appearing in hundreds of films and television series, but the standup specials he has released are what have brought him the most fame. The vast majority of Dave’s wealth comes from his standup comedy specials that are available on Netflix in particular.
His Career
David Khari Webber Chappelle was born in Washington, DC on August 24, 1973. His parents were academics, Yvonne Chappelle Seon and William David Chappelle III. Bishop D. Chappelle, his great-grandfather, was the president of Allen University. Chappelle grew up in the Maryland town of Silver Spring.
He grew up idolising Eddie Murphy and Richard Pryor, and family friends who were entertained by Dave’s comedic antics and monologues frequently noted that Chappelle would most definitely become a comic.
Chappelle’s parents divorced when he was a child, and he lived largely with his mother while spending summers in Ohio with his father. He earned his bachelor’s degree in drama from Duke Ellington School of the Arts in 1991.
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