The Onion

I used to love Dave Chappelle. He gave a huge fuck you to the establishment back in the day, and deserved credit for that. He was punching up.

But he decided it bothered him that trans issues got the spotlight, and that he wanted to punch down. Ok: fair play. Yell some jokes.

But then the jokes suck. They're not insightful. They're not full of commentary. They don't highlight dissonance on people's words or actions.

And if you're punching down and aren't funny, you're not a comedian... you're just an asshole

I think they don't like him to begin with

Most of us grew up with him and were excited for him to come back. I watched his first special on Netflix the very first night it came out.

I think you'll find that most of the people watching his comedy are former fans.

So you believe that the people who don't like what Chappelle has become in the last few years understand what jokes are, but don't think that Chappelle is joking?

I think that speaks much more to how you define a joke. From what you said, it seems to me that you believe that a joke is completely devoid of meaning and context; that the selection of material and the way it's told has no bearing on the beliefs of the person telling it. I think you'll find that most people don't share this definition.

Jokes, like every other form of communication, are a type of rhetoric. You can tell a lot about a person from the things they find funny. Dave, for instance, seems to find the idea that Trans people are crazy or lying about being trans to be hilarious (judging from his last couple of specials). Most of the people here don't share that belief.

Why is it that you apologists never actually apologize, but excuse away bad behavior.

You should be called excusists.