Dave Chappelle, Joe Rogan & Ye Create Culture and THAT Cannot be Cancelled
Sara Dahms is a comedy superfan/comedy nerd who started writing about comedy after taking a long series of dream comedycations. Once it became impossible to travel all over the country to watch the best comedy everywhere, she began using her skills as a student counselor to talk with comedians all over the country about their latest projects.
Last week was a big one for the arts. It was equal parts comedy and tragedy and I have thoughts about both. It started with Dave Chappelle making another exciting return to The Stand Comedy Club and Restaurant in New York and I was beyond thrilled to get to be there as he once again made their stage his home, the audience his canvas and the mic his brush. Chappelle was busy at work, building another hour all the way until the early hours of Saturday morning… and it was amazing!!! I would love to see him record an album there one day!
Dave came out around midnight and kept the comedy flowing for hours. I never wanted it to end! He stayed true to his voice, even after all of the backlash he faced following the recent release of his 6th Netflix special, The Closer. Hallelujah! He shared some of his ideas for sketches, in the event he ever creates another sketch show, and they were hilarious!
Dave is an amazing story teller and he spun a few tales, including a couple about Whoopie Goldberg. He talked about the ways she’s believed in him, helped him and even made his dream of being on Comic Relief come true. His stories weren’t just topical and funny, they were also told in the spirit of truth. Dave’s superpower is the ability to tell jokes and truth is the color he chooses to paint with. That’s one of the reasons why cancel culture is so dangerous and damaging to artists of every genre… as well as to their fans. The truth can be ugly but there is still beauty in releasing that tension and setting it free and that is exactly what art is meant to do, so no subject matter should ever be taken off the table. Comedians are artists that have the gift of finding the funny in things and Dave Chappelle is the greatest of all time at finding the humor in the truth so if that’s not your jam, just keep it moving because there is plenty of other comedy out there for any and every sense of humor.
Besides this, Dave also spoke of a tape that had recently been released of Joe Rogan. I had not yet heard the news of this tape, so hearing about it for the first time from Dave Chappelle was surreal. I saw Chappelle and Rogan play the MGM in Vegas this summer and have nothing but respect for both of these men. Chappelle went on to explain that there had been a compilation tape of Joe using the “n word” from all of the podcasts he had ever done. Ugh! They “swept the leg.” Joe Rogan, who has been described as the Johnny Carson of our time for the influence he has and for helping the careers of countless comedians, was charged with a very serious and indefensible crime in the courts of social justice. Nevertheless, Dave held the line for Rogan and shared that he believes cancel culture could mean the end of comedy if it continues on this way and he’s not wrong.
The loyalty us fans have for artists like Dave Chappelle and Joe Rogan is holding the line for now, but what about all of the artists who are just emerging and don’t have the benefit of having millions and millions of fans or “fuck you money” in the bank? What hope can we have for the future of art, music, comedy and culture if every artist has to live in fear of the attack they may one day face at the hands of cancel culture if they do or say the “wrong” thing? From casting stones, to Court TV, shame in the form of public spectacle has been a tool of keeping law and order since the beginning of civilization so what hope do we have for the future of comedy?
The next morning I saw the video Joe himself had put out about everything that was happening. He expressed feelings of embarrassment and regret for what he had said and shed some light on the context in which he used the word, a word he admitted was not his to use in the first place. Then, he called this experience a teachable moment that he will use to learn from and do better in the future and I believe him. He may have the number one ranked podcast, but Joe is still a stand-up comedian at heart and as a comedian, in the moment, he made a mistake and didn’t see the foul in saying the complete album name when referencing Richard Pryor’s album title, or when discussing how the standards and practices of television have changed from when that word used to be said on network sitcoms on the regular. Even though Rogan himself expressed regret for his actions, in this context, popular culture trying to cancel Joe Rogan for saying the “n word” while reminding the world that popular culture used to say the “n word” is just as ridiculous as the people who did racist things not wanting their grandchildren being taught that they did racist things and are trying to stop schools from teaching critical race theory… Moral of the story? No one should be saying the “n-word” and no one is perfect. Let’s all just do better…. But how?!
I flew home to Chicago on Saturday and got ready for Ye’s basketball team’s homecoming game. In addition to being a master creator of music and fashion, Ye is also the founder of a school called Donda Academy that has a basketball team called the Donda Doves and they were amazing. With moves like they have of course they won the game! Ye was there to support his team and The Donda Doves had slam dunks and rebounds for days! The entire team was awesome but JJ Taylor and Zion Cruz were the standouts for me. Basketball is my favorite sport and having a DJ spinning my favorites tracks by Ye throughout the evening while Ye and the crowd got down was absolute perfection… and that’s when it occurred to me… Besides being master level artists who are completely committed to their crafts, the thing that Dave Chappelle, Joe Rogan and Ye all have in common is they don’t just create art, they create culture.
This evoked the question. How can these artists resonate with millions and millions of fans and yet be so completely misunderstood and persecuted by cancel culture at the very same time? Sometimes the answer is so obvious it can evade us… All three of these men are creating culture and cancel culture does exactly what their name is telling us… they are literally canceling culture they disagree with or don’t understand. I’ve heard the expression, “do not hate that which you do not understand” and I do my very best to live by those words, but sometimes it’s easier said than done.
Here’s a quote that helps me to “do better.” It reminds me just how important tolerance is as a virtue. I came across this quote in the book, Circles: A Paradigm Shift in How We Respond to Crime and it moved me to my soul. Episcopalian clergywoman Caroline A. Westerhoff said, “By accepting another’s different-ness, we free ourselves to be different too. In order to be who we are, we must be actively engaged in the setting free of every other person to be who she or he is intended: someone different from who we are, someone who will see the world from another perspective, someone who will not agree with us.”
Reflect on these words for a minute… Now, think about your favorite artist. Who comes to mind? Now, think about your least favorite artist. Who pops into your head this time? Whether you love them or hate them, neither one of the people you thought of deserves or has the right to more freedom of speech than the other. Everyone has the right to be their true authentic self, not just people who see the world the same way you do. EVERYONE. And if you don’t like what someone has to say, you do not have to listen, but you should still support their right to speak their truth, even if you don’t agree.
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Sara Dahms
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