OPRAH IS COMPLETED! Unimaginable crimes are revealed by Dave Chapelle and Katt Williams.
Amelia Robinson is the Columbus Dispatch’s opinion and community engagement editor. She is a lifelong Ohioan.
I popped popcorn corn and watched all 166 minutes of Katt Williams’ “Club Shay Shay” interview with host Shannon Sharpe when it still only had 4 million views on YouTube.com.
Several of the reactions to Williams’ chat with Sharpe have been interesting, but Ohio comedian Dave Chappelle criticism of a comedian punching up at fellow millionaires while he himself punches down at those with much to lose, took the hypocrisy soaked cake.
But let me back up.
Dave Chappelle calls out Katt Williams
Williams is a Cincinnati-area native who was raised in Dayton and is known for his stand-up specials and roles in “Friday After Next” and “First Sunday.”
Like Chappelle, who lives in Yellow Springs, Williams has deep Ohio roots.
Williams’ “Club Shay Shay” has blown up since being posted Jan. 3. It now has nearly 55 million views and was spoofed on the most recent episode of Saturday Night Live.
In the interview with Sharpe, Williams discussed his career and Ohio upbringing, shared some strange theories and unleashed the kraken on a long list of fellow Black comedians he thinks have wronged him.
Among those roasted on full heat were Cedric the Entertainer, Tiffany Haddish, Kevin Hart, Ricky Smiley and Cleveland-raised “Family Feud” host Steve Harvey.
Chappelle was not one on the comics Williams slammed with a hammer. In fact, Chappelle was among the few comedians Williams praised.
Like Williams, part of Chappelle’s job as a comedian is to react to things and to provide social commentary. That Chappelle weighed in on the Katt Williams controversy was far more ironic than it was surprising.
What Chappelle said about Williams – and why it matters
Chappelle, while expressing love for Williams, blasted him for ethering (“insulting or humiliating publicly”) other Black comedians when “all of us are trying to be in a better situation.”
“Katt is one of the best painters in the game. So why are you drawing ugly pictures of us? Stop,” he said on stage at MonDERAYS, an event hosted by comedian DeRay Davis Friday in Hollywood.
Get the newsletter in your inbox.
Engage in thoughtful discussion about issues that matter to Ohio.
One of the reasons Williams’ interviews drew negative attention from Chappelle is because he ruthlessly criticized other Black people, members of a marginalized community he belongs to and far too many people inexplicably fear.
Sadly, one of the reasons Chappelle, one of the best painters in the game, has gotten negative attention is that he ruthlessly criticizes trans people, members of a marginalized community he does not belong to and far too many people inexplicably fear.
Williams could have blasted the Hollywood establishment as Chappelle suggested he should have, but let’s be real, the comedians Williams insulted will be fine.
Most are millionaires. Several of them are multimillionaires. They can wipe their tears with thousand-dollar bills. The impact is minimum.
Steve Harvey will still be able to afford designer suits. Kevin Hart will still land leading roles. Rickey Smiley’s nationally syndicated radio show is not being canceled.
The trans people Chappelle has made punchlines of his jokes are not as fortunate.
Their right to exist is ruthlessly being attacked in statehouses around the nation.
Chappelle attacks trans people who are actually fighting to be in a ‘better situation’
Right here in Ohio, state senators on Wednesday cemented the override of Mike DeWine’s House Bill 68 veto. The Ohio House has already voted on the override.
Real truth behind HB 68:Trans kids aren’t taking over female sports or being ‘mutilated’
When it takes effect in a little less than 90 days, the inhumane ban will stop parents from getting gender-affirming care — which for children, ranges from counseling to hormone therapy — for their trans children and prevent trans girls from playing on female sports teams, something that rarely happens.
Seven trans high school student athletes participate in Ohio High School Athletic Association sports out of about 400,000 student athletes.
According to a 2020 study, 82% of transgender people have considered suicide, and 40% have attempted suicide, with “suicidality highest among transgender youth.”
Chappelle and the far less talented wannabes that parrot his approach at comedy clubs around the nation have pushed back against so-called cancel culture.
And they have a point. Comedians need a lot of leeway to do their jobs.
That said, a joke can become something hateful when the subject is left out of the joke and is only there to be brutalized.
That seems all too often the case when Chappelle and his wannabes climb on sanctimonious soap boxes to unleash “joke” after “joke” against trans people who — like other marginalized people — are fighting against walls to “be in a better situation.”
“Tonight, I’m doing all handicapped jokes. They’re not as organized as the gays and I love punching down,” Chappelle said in “The Dreamer,” his latest Netflix special, referring to the backlash he’s received for his trans jokes.
At least Katt Williams punched up and forward when he took his shots at fellow Black comedians — and that was not a jab about the 5’5” comedian’s height.
That’s a far better fight.
That popcorn was far tastier.
Amelia Robinson is the Columbus Dispatch’s opinion and community engagement editor. She is a lifelong Ohioan.
