Netflix Quietly Adds New Dave Chappelle Special To Programming Slate

Netflix NFLX, in an effort to avoid a reprise of the brouhaha surrounding Dave Chappelle’s special “The Closer,” has quietly added the comic’s “What’s In A Name” production to its programming line-up without any special promotion.

What Happened: The Netflix website defined the 39-minute, TV-MA rated “What’s In A Name” simply as “Dave Chappelle delivers a speech at his prestigious alma mater that reflects on his comedy roots, his rise to fame and why artists "should never behave."

Deadline reported that Chappelle made the speech last month at Washington D.C.’s Duke Ellington School of the Arts, his high school alma mater, where a theater was to be named in his honor. But Chappelle’s appearance drew criticism from some students and he declined the naming honor, instead calling for the venue to be called the Theater for Artistic Freedom and Expression.

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Why It Happened: Chappelle addressed the controversy surrounding “The Closer,” where he faced criticism from a coalition of Netflix employees and the transgender community for jokes that they considered to be transphobic. In his speech, Chappelle advocated against what he saw as the threat from cancel culture.

“The more you say I can’t say something, the more urgent it is for me to say it,” he said. "It has nothing to do with what you’re saying I can’t say. It has everything to do with my right and my freedom of artistic expression. It’s worth protecting for me, and it’s worth protecting for everyone else who endeavors in our noble professions."

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Chappelle also pointed to a recent news story as a facetious example of what he was experiencing.

“I saw in the newspaper that a man who was dressed in women’s clothing threw a pie at the Mona Lisa and tried to deface it,” he continued. “And it made me laugh and I thought, ‘It’s like The Closer.’”

Photo courtesy of Netflix