Dave Chappelle calls Michael Jackson sexual abuse accusers 'motherf******', says they were lucky to be molested by the singer
Comedian Dave Chappelle has never been one to mince his words and has a made a name for himself by going against the grain and offering what could be construed as controversial opinions. But even by his standards, his latest Netflix special, 'Sticks & Stones,' is difficult to digest, with the comedian taking aim at Michael Jackson's accusers, the #MeToo movement, the allegations against R. Kelly, and several more headlines that dominated the past year.
And it wasn't just about who he targeted, it was also about how he targeted them.
After a seemingly vanilla opening to the special, Chappelle discredits HBO's 'Leaving Neverland,' which covered the stories of Wade Robson and James Safechuck, two men who claimed they had been sexually abused by Michael Jackson, beginning from when they were just seven and 10.
"Don't watch it," he tells the audience. "It's f****** gross. Really nasty s***." He goes on to describe Robson and Safechuck as "motherf******" and seems to imply that, if they were indeed molested, they should be glad it was at the hands of Michael Jackson.
"I don’t think he did it, but you know what? " he says. "Even if he did do it … you know what I mean? I mean, it’s Michael Jackson. I know more than half the people in this room have been molested in their lives, but it wasn’t no goddamn Michael Jackson, was it?"
"This kid got his d*** sucked by the King of Pop," he continues, with the audience guffawing. "All we get is awkward Thanksgivings for the rest of our lives. You know how good it must have felt to go to school the next day after that s***?"
Chappelle also brings up R. Kelly, another singer, and icon of the African-American community who has been similarly mired in a series of sexual abuse claims and lawsuits. But the 46-year-old comedian says that, unlike Jackson, he is "pretty sure" Kelly has done the things he is accused of, and that he declined an opportunity to appear on Lifetime's 'Surviving R. Kelly' because he did not know him "at all."
And that was just the beginning. Chappelle then brings up how "poor Kevin Hart" had to step down from his "dream role" as the host for the Oscars due to the homophobic tweets he had posted a few years previously even though he had apologized. "I don’t know what you know about Kevin, but I know that Kevin Hart is damn near perfect," he says. "As close to perfect as anybody I’ve ever seen. In fact, Kevin is precisely four tweets shy of being perfect."
Chappelle also defends fellow comedian Louis C.K., who was accused of masturbating in front of multiple women, and says that "nobody ran for the door" even though they had the chance.
"It was his room, that’s where you’re supposed to masturbate," he tells the crowd. "And then he said, 'Hey, everybody, I’m about to pull my [penis] out,' and nobody ran for the door. They all just kind of hung out, like, 'I wonder if this guy is serious.'"
The trans community, a frequent punching bag for the comedian, are taken to the cleaners as well. “You are never, ever allowed to upset the alphabet people,” says Chappelle, likening the transgender experience to a Chinese man living inside his black body, and proceeding to imitate a Chinese man.
Having taken a long hiatus, Chapelle has been busy since his return to the spotlight, with 'Sticks & Stones' his fifth Netflix special in the last two years, and undoubtedly his most inflammatory one yet.