Dave Chappelle and Elon Musk are truth tellers. In California, it got one of them booed
To read the headlines, you’d think comedian Dave Chappelle and Twitter CEO Elon Musk teamed up to trash the town. In reality, Musk’s appearance at a recent Chappelle comedy show demonstrated that the two men are distinct but strong beacons of hope, standing for truth in an arena that’s become particularly muddled and overwrought with emotion and demands.
Toward the end of Chappelle’s show Sunday in San Francisco, he asked Elon Musk, Twitter’s CEO, to join him on stage. Musk did so to a mix of cheers and boos.
Chappelle then wished everyone in the audience peace and joy in the pursuit of happiness.
The audience’s mixed reaction might have something to do with the fact that Musk has tweeted repeatedly about how much he values liberty and free speech. He’s also been unafraid to wade into controversies. Just the day before, Musk tweeted “My pronouns are Prosecute/Fauci.” It was a two-fer, blasting gender identity politics and the man behind the COVID shutdowns. These aren’t popular positions in the land of liberalism, I mean, California.
Musk’s tweet went viral, with 1 million likes and nearly 180,000 retweets. Somehow, this already-controversial figure had hit two nerves with one wily stroke.
For years now, gender confusion advocates have demanded that the world conform to their definitions. In their eyes, everyone must embrace the concept of gender fluidity, new names and even pronouns that may or may not seem to coincide with that name, such as “xem” or “vis.” To many average people, this makes no sense.
Simultaneously, Musk aimed his witty but truthful ire at Dr. Anthony Fauci, who engineered vaccine and mask mandates and lockdowns, even though they’ve all failed to stop COVID transmission and — in the case of lockdowns — were draconian and flawed.
It’s clear some residents of San Francisco and a handful of attendees of the Chappelle show didn’t appreciate Musk’s observations. They’re entitled to that opinion, but to hear such logical, obvious statements about a topic that’s become political from a non-political figure is surprising, refreshing — and now, necessary.
Chappelle has a similar appeal. In his 2021 Netflix special, “The Closer,” Chappelle made funny but truthful comments about transgender activists. He aligned himself with J.K. Rowling, stating that “Gender is a fact.” For this, Chappelle was labeled transphobic, and groups called on Netflix to drop the show. It didn’t.
He received the same criticism for another earlier Netflix special, “Sticks & Stones.” In that one, no topic was off limits, but he still made people laugh. It’s hard to decide what to admire more, his commitment to truth or to humor.
Truth can be perceived many ways — funny, hurtful, racist, obvious —but it can only mean one thing. These men don’t share the same background, race, or probably even political party, but they’ve shared the ability to stand on this ground.
By demanding that we all list our chosen pronouns, the gender-identity crowd doesn’t just ask for new subjective labels. It compels speech in a way that defies logic and biology. This is dangerous territory, and Musk and Chappelle seem to sense it. They may not be allies, but on that stage Sunday night, both showed they are vital truth tellers of this moment.
That’s worth applause.
