The Duke Ellington School of the Arts, in Northwest D.C., announced that it will postpone renaming its theatre after comedian-actor Dave Chappelle, one of its best-known alumnus, amidst concerns raised by students over his recent Netflix special.
In a statement released by the school, the institution said it will engage with members who raised concerns about the comedian’s latest Netflix comedy series “The Closer”.
The event, which was originally scheduled to take place on November 23, has now been shifted to April 22, the school said in its statement.
The development took place after Dave’s latest Netflix special, “The Closer”, attracted criticism from several LGBTQ organisations, Netflix employees, and some Duke Ellington students, who were miffed with the actor for his deprecatory remarks against the transgender community.
“Dave is an artist and activist and applauds the school taking time to develop creative and critical thinkers,” Carla Sims, a representative for Chappelle, told the Washington Post on Friday. “He supports the school and any effort to contribute to open conversations vs. cancellations.”
“The Closer – the most watched comedy special in Netflix’s history, which has garnered a 96% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes – has sparked a national debate around race, gender, sexuality and ‘cancel culture’”, the school said.
“We also believe moving forward with the event, originally scheduled for November 23, 2021, without first addressing questions and concerns from members of the Ellington community, would be a missed opportunity for a teachable moment,” it added.
In an interview, the Duke Ellington School’s principal Sandi Logan said that she had had both formal and informal discussions with the students who took offence over Chappelle’s comments in “The Closer”. The principal further added that she has had a month of weekly meetings with an “advisory committee” of student leaders that includes representatives from the school’s Gender and Sexuality Alliance.
The principal also said that they will keep having discussions with the aggrieved students to understand their stance vis-a-vis Chappelle’s comments in his Netflix special. Logan said it is not their aim to convert their minds but they want time so that students can have a meaningful discussion over the issue.
Duke Ellington School remains one of the few schools where the student body is primarily composed of people of colour. Some students at the School, which has a large population of LGBTQ community, are disappointed with the school for going ahead with renaming the theatre after Chapelle. By announcing postponement to April 2022, the School has made it abundantly clear that they are going to rename the theatre after Chappelle, one of the students who disapproved of the school’s decision lamented.
The School, in its statement, has gone into raptures about the actor. It described Chappelle as its “most distinguished alumni” and “an important thought leader”, adding the comedian has personally donated or raised millions of dollars to address the school’s under-funding.
The decision to rename its theatre after Chappelle was taken last month, hours before “The Closer” dropped on Netflix. The school said Chappelle’s “current and future work and influence would raise the profile of the school, increase opportunities for the entire Ellington community, and provide critical fundraising support for the sustainability of our arts-based curriculum.”
Last month, Netflix Employees had staged a walkout to protest Dave Chappelle’s ‘The Closer’ for allegedly making transphobic comments. While Netflix said that they respect the sentiments of the employees protesting against the show, the company refused to take it down. Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos had cited “creative freedom” as one of the reasons for keeping the show online and said that it is too popular to cancel.
