Dave Chappelle sells out four Santa Rosa shows but sparks controversy

Is Dave Chappelle, the overwhelmingly popular and continuously controversial comedian, a comic genius or a cultural loose cannon?

While a lot of Sonoma County is talking about exactly this right now, the answer may depend on who you ask.

Tickets sold out for Chapelle’s two shows this week at Santa Rosa’s Luther Burbank Center when they went on sale without prior announcement. Two more shows were added and within hours, quickly sold out, too.

The center reported a total of 6,364 tickets sold in eight hours.

Meanwhile, Chappelle’s show at the First Avenue club in Minneapolis was canceled last week in response to online petitions protesting the comedian’s past jokes about the transgender community.

That show was moved to the city’s Varsity Theater, where protesters gathered outside. Despite the response, a second show was soon added.

Encouraged by the protesters in Minneapolis, Santa Rosa native Joy Anderson, a 24-year-old nonbinary member of the transgender community, launched an online protest Thursday night against the Luther Burbank Center’s booking.

Anderson had gathered 100 signatures by Friday.

“We got a response from Luther Burbank Center that they were willing to meet with us,” said Anderson, who moved to Oakland last month but still remains active in Sonoma County’s trans community. “It sounds like we might get a meeting next week, but we haven’t set anything yet.”

The issue is important because of the potential for discrimination and even violence against transgender people, Anderson said.

“Dave Chappelle is using the queer community, particularly the trans community, as a punchline, and that’s spreading stereotypes,” they added.

'You never know what’s going to happen’

Luther Burbank Center is renting the facility to Live Nation, which produces Chappelle’s shows, said Anita Wiglesworth, the center’s vice president of programming and marketing.

“We wouldn’t be the ones to make that decision” to cancel or move the shows, she explained. “We are hearing feedback from the community, and we always want to be sensitive and hear people.”

On Friday, Luther Burbank Center officials issued a statement calling the venue “a place for diverse voices to be heard.”

“The LBC has been a gathering place for over 40 years, working with the community and a number of presenters to provide a place for diverse voices to be heard. This show is being offered by Live Nation, who has rented our facility over many years. During that time, they have brought a wide variety of artists and voices to the stage,” officials said.

“We always appreciate feedback from our community, and we have shared the collective concerns we’ve received with Live Nation. In addition, we have been inviting those who have expressed their thoughts to meet and keep the conversation going so we are able to find ways to better support and elevate the voices of our entire community.”

For many, Chappelle is a comedic treasure. In 2006, Esquire magazine labeled him the “comic genius of America,” and in 2019, he received the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Even so, Chappelle’s remarks about transgender people in his 2021 Netflix special, “The Closer,” sparked a walkout among some Netflix employees.

In May, Chappelle was charged on stage at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles by a man who told the New York Post he found the show’s content “triggering.”

The trans community is a marginalized segment of the population that seeks broader acceptance, said Orlando O’Shea, a 51-year-old Santa Rosa resident who is a founding committee member of Translife, a Sonoma County organization that provides education and support to both the trans community and its allies.

“One thing he has done is make jokes about trans people’s genitals,” O’Shea said. “Beyond being offensive, it reinforces stereotypes. It dehumanizes trans people. Trans people get very personal questions. People think that’s OK. Some people confuse trans with some kind of sexual perversion.”

Clearly, however, Chappelle has a following here.

Officials with the Luther Burbank Center noted last week, after his initial shows sold out, the last time the center had seen such a rush for tickets was in March 2015. That’s when Chappelle had four sold-out shows at the center.

Local professional comedian Juan Carlos Arenas, 43, of Santa Rosa, said wide-ranging, freewheeling commentary is part of a stand-up comic’s job.

“Dave Chappelle is the GOAT — the Greatest of All Time. He speaks from the heart. His timing is impeccable. His points of view are personal,” Arenas said.

“You can take clips out of context and make assumptions about a performer, but he’s a master of the art. I admire him. As a comedian, sometimes you take risks. You never know what’s going to happen.”

Message vs. counter-message

Chris Ferguson, an author and psychology professor at Stetson University in DeLand, Fla., wrote about “The Closer” controversy last year in Psychology Today. He said that while Chapelle’s jokes have been labeled as “hate speech” by some, they are unlikely to incite violence against the trans community.

“His narrative is that he’s skeptical that people can identify with a different gender,” Ferguson said by phone on Friday. “The counter-message that people can’t watch this special is the sort of thing that backfires.”

In effect, the controversy has raised the already-high profile of the 49-year-old comedian and his TV specials even further, Ferguson said.

“People can attempt to block some speech due to presumed harm, but more people know about it now than a year ago.”

Marc Franz, 49, who lives the Larkfield-Wikiup area, considers himself an ally of the trans community.

“Mr. Chappelle makes a conscious decision to use trans people as a target for his comedy. At a time when many states are passing laws that persecute transgender people, their families and the health care professionals who treat them, this has real consequences for people just trying to live their lives in peace and good health,” Franz wrote in an email to The Press Democrat.

“I haven’t decided if I will be showing up at the venue to protest, but the decision to host Mr. Chappelle makes it less likely that I will buy tickets for other Luther Burbank events in the future,” he added.

Despite the differing opinions and debate, there are thousands of ticket buyers who waited online for hours or paid higher prices to ticket resale agencies for a chance to see Chappelle perform live.

Raul Ortega, a 27-year-old Santa Rosa bartender, said he looks forward to seeing Chappelle live for the first time.

“I watched ‘The Closer’ and I wasn’t offended by it, but I’m also not part of that community,” Ortega said. “A big part of comedy is surprising people with what you say, even if it wouldn’t be part of normal conversation.”

Laura, 52, of Santa Rosa, who asked to be identified by her first name only, also is looking forward to seeing Chappelle in person.

“He comes at comedy from a storytelling angle. He does it to keep people engaged,” she said. “I do realize it’s offensive to some people, but I find there’s a lot of people my age who love him.”

Chappelle’s four sold-out shows at the Luther Burbank Center run Tuesday through Thursday. No use of cellphones or recording devices will be allowed.

Patrons will hang onto their phones, which will be sealed in a plastic bag provided by the center for the duration of the show.

You can reach Staff Writer Dan Taylor at dan.taylor@pressdemocrat.com or 707-521-5243. On Twitter @danarts.