The theater building at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington DC would be officially named after one of the school’s most famous graduates, Dave Chappelle, in a ceremony tonight.
The naming was in consideration of Chappelle’s support for the school, especially since he and his friends were the group that raised the most money for the building.
Chappelle has been the center of controversy after comments in his Netflix special last year were deemed transphobic. In fact, when he visited Duke Ellington School of the Arts in November, he was confronted by students there.
We will, according to Washington Post columnist Josh Rogin and other reports, at tonight’s ceremony, the comedian announced he would not be putting his name on theater after all. Instead, he decided to call it the Theater of Artistic Freedom and Expression.
He then explained how his work has been characterized and analysed.
“I saw in the newspaper that a man dressed in women’s clothing threw a cake at the Mona Lisa and tried to damage it. And it made me laugh and I thought ‘It’s like’ The closer† †
chappelle said: The closer was unfairly portrayed in the press.
“You can’t report on an artist’s work and take away artistic nuances,” he argued.
The comedian compared it to reporting the news that a large rabbit had shot a man in the face, but not telling them the work described was a Bugs Bunny cartoon.
“If you say I can’t say something, the more urgent it is for me to say it. It has nothing to do with what you say I can’t say. It has everything to do with my freedom of artistic expression.”
Dave Chappelle: “I saw in the paper that a man dressed in women’s clothing threw a cake at the Mona Lisa and tried to damage it. And it made me laugh and I thought, it’s like The Closer.”
— Josh Rogin (@joshrogin) June 21, 2022
#Break: At the christening ceremony just now, Dave Chappelle announced that he would not put his name on the Duke Ellington High School theater after all, and instead decided that it would be called Theater of Artistic Freedom and Expression.
— Josh Rogin (@joshrogin) June 21, 2022
