Dave Chapelle is once again under fire after telling students at his old high school that he's "better than all of you."
The comedian incited ire after making controversial comments about the transgender community during his Netflix special, The Closer. He called himself a "terf" (trans-exclusionary radical feminist) during the October segment, stating: "They canceled J.K. Rowling – my God. Effectively, she said gender was a fact, the trans community got mad as s***, they started calling her a TERF.
"I am team Terf. I agree," he added. "I agree, man. Gender is a fact."
He later clarified that he was "not saying that to say trans women aren't women" and that "people who watch my specials would know that I never had a problem with transgender people."
In response to his comments, employees of the streaming service in Los Angeles staged a walkout over the decision to go ahead and air the special. Netflix's co-chief executive, Ted Sarandos, however, stated that Chapelle did not cross "the line on hate" in an internal memo.
Netflix also released a statement before the protest, acknowledging the "deep hurt that's been caused" and that it recognises "we have much more work to do both within Netflix and in our content."
Chapelle has since issued a response, where he spoke to the trans community, saying, "I’m more than willing to give you an audience but you will not summon me. I am not bending to anybody’s demands."
Now, the comedian has courted controversy once again, after he reportedly told students at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington D.C. that he was "better" than them.
Per Politico, Chapelle responded to a question from one of the 580 students by saying, "I’m better than every instrumentalist, artist… No matter what art you do in this school, right now, I’m better than all of you. I’m sure that will change. I’m sure you’ll be household names soon."
One student allegedly questioned him about his remarks on his recent special, calling him a "bigot" who "handled [backlash] like a child."
Chapelle reportedly replied, "My friend, with all due respect, I don’t believe you could make one of the decisions I have to make on a given day."
The publication also claimed that the comic used the n-word when responding to a student who said his comedy "kills". A parent alleged: "He was being dead serious and using the n-word on the record. What kind of judgement is the school showing to allow that?"