Dave Chappelle Draws Controversy Opening For John Mulaney With Alleged Trans Joke

Comedian Dave Chappelle is again facing some serious controversy.

Apparently, fans felt “ambushed” when Chappelle stepped on stage to open for friend John Mulaney at Ohio State University’s Value City Arena in Columbus, Ohio. Those who attended the event were required to lock up their phones, so there is no footage of the event.

According to Deadline, Chappelle, who has recently been criticized for his 2021 Netflix special “The Closer” over alleged transphobic comments, began the show by talking about an incident that occurred while performing at the Netflix Is A Joke comedy festival at the Hollywood Bowl.

A man rushed the stage with a plastic gun that caused a knife to protrude from the barrel when the trigger was squeezed. Fortunately, Chappelle was not injured in the assault. Chris Rock and Jamie Foxx reportedly joined Chappelle on stage to finish up the night.

While discussing the event, Chappelle reportedly seemed to poke fun at the weapon having an “identity crisis,” which many interpreted to be a jab at the trans community.

“I mean, it wasn’t a gun, it was a knife,” Chappelle reportedly told the crowd. “A gun that identifies as a knife?”

Deadline said that he then “paused, smiled a bit, and moved on quickly.” The “homophobic joke” was apparently him heckling two members of the audience, saying, “Maybe you two are gay, I don’t know, nothing wrong with that if that’s the case.”

Those were the two jokes that were said to be the cause of the stir online. Many fans were also frustrated to see Mulaney come out and hug Chappelle at the end of his set.

One user tweeted, "John @mulaney platformed Dave Chappelle to over 12k people and allowed him free reign to tell a bunch of transphobic rants disguised as jokes, while many trans people in the audience had to stay and watch. in the end, the two hugged. F--- John Mulaney."

They continued, "i liked him a lot, but i'm not the one who's hurt the most by this. i know many trans people who absolutely loved him, two of which are very dear to me, and i can only imagine how devastating this must be for them. he can apologize as much as he wants. won't get a penny from me."

Another user who attended the event wrote, "my favorite part of tonight was when dave chappelle ambushed us at the john mulaney show, told a bunch of transphobic jokes, a massive stadium of people laughed, and then john mulaney hugged him at the end."

They explained, "anyway i was such a big john mulaney fan and i think i still am, but they also had our phones in little locked wallets so we couldn’t film, so i just had to sit there joke after joke about trans people and hear 18k people laughing along."

Another user tweeted, "Pretty disappointed in John Mulaney, saw him tonight and yeah, he was funny, but he gave Dave Chapelle the platform to make some transphobic jokes. Also very disheartening to hear a crowd of 12,000 around you (a trans person) laughing at transphobic jokes. Thanks Columbus."

John Mulaney and Dave Chappelle have yet to make a public statement concerning the incident at the time of this writing.