Dave Chappelle: Live in Real Life, the documentary, aired at a film festival in Martha’s Vineyard on Friday, prompting new remarks from the comedian. The original release of the movie at the Tribeca Film Festival four years ago went south after Dave Chappelle’s 2021 comedy special, The Closer.
“I’ve gone on to get snubbed by the Grammys and the Emmys because someone thought it was a good idea to tell trans jokes,” Chappelle said at the 23rd annual Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival.
The Netflix special was criticized for its transphobic humor, including when Chappelle stated he was “team TERF,” a term selling transgender exclusion. Despite the poor taste of the homophobic jokes, Chappelle went on to host another Netflix special, The Dreamer, which included more jokes at the expense of the trans community.
Even with the public backlash, Chappelle was nominated for four Emmy awards after the incident. Between 2018 and 2025, he won six Grammy awards for best comedy album.
His new film, Variety reports, features Kevin Hart, David Letterman, Jon Hamm, The Roots, and Chris Rock.
“It took a lot of courage for all of those comedians to come out there because COVID was so new. Everyone was still so isolated, and it was real fear,” Chappelle said after the screening on Friday.
“And the other thing is, no one had worked in a hundred nights. Everyone stunk when they got there, but it didn’t matter. It was so much fun to be together again. It was just like when we all started in the comedy club, we realized how much we loved being around each other,” he said.
Dave Chappelle Claims He Was ‘Snubbed’ by Awards Shows for One Major Reason first appeared on Men’s Journal on Aug 12, 2025
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