Chance The Rapper Defends Dave Chappelle’s “Gay Jokes” Comment In Ghana
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Chance the Rapper has addressed the criticism he received for including Dave Chappelle in his Black Star Line Festival.
The Chicago emcee spoke with Rolling Stone about his inaugural music and culture celebration and opened up about the decision to bring Chappelle with him. The 49-year-old stand-up artist, who has caused controversy with jokes about trans people, tagged along to Ghana — where an anti-LGBTQ bill is being spearheaded by a faction of parliamentarians — and fans weren’t a fan of the dichotomy.
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The Coloring Book MC expressed that he is aware of Ghana’s bill and labeled it “one of the most destructive things” in the country’s future. Chance then explained how the bill goes against his desire to create a Black “homogenous power.”
“It gives police license to target anybody, especially LGBTQIA+ people based on something as simple as the clothes that they wear, how they self-identify, or how that officer identifies them. And it’s antithetical to what I’m trying to do,” he said.
“The idea that we could be one homogenous power in the world comes from the idea that we must all be Black. So, you can’t not be Black enough because of how you identify, whether that’s your sexuality or your gender, or again, your religion or your age or what nation you’re from. Black people are Black people.”
The Rolling Stone interviewer asked about Chappelle’s involvement and his comment about “gay jokes” that one Twitter user described as “bashing queer and trans people unprovoked.” Chance asserted that the comedian was making an observation regarding Ghana’s homophobia, not contributing to it.
“It’s something that Dave was actually shining a light on,” the Highs and the Lows artist expressed. “Dave was making a comment about the comedy scene in Ghana when he said, ‘I bet gay jokes go over so well here,’ to which everybody laughed about. And he was making a point to say that in Ghana, you can make jokes about things that are about gay people, about trans people, about a lot of social constructs, just about anything in the world. But you can’t make a comment about the government there.
“But I think it was an honest dialogue,” he continued. “Where I was giving Dave the opportunity to speak about who we are as a community because he was taking so much pride in the fact that he was respected as a Black man in Ghana, but I don’t know that he would be respected that much if he was a gay Black man in Ghana or if he was trans in Ghana. And just like I’ve been saying the past year, that we’re all over the world as Black people, we’re all over the world as gay Black people too.”
The mentioned bill, as reported by The Guardian, would effectively “criminalize” people identifying as an “LGBTQ+ person, having a gay relationship or intercourse.” The aggressive bill could also find people serving up to five years in prison for “marrying or intending to marry someone who has had gender reassignment surgery.”
Chance The Rapper and Vic Mensa’s Black Star Line Festival commenced in Accra, Ghana, on Jan. 6. Fifty-two thousand fans attended the cultural event, which included performances from T-Pain, Erykah Badu, Jeremih, Dave Chappelle, Sarkodie, Tobe Nwigwe, Asakaa Boys, and more.
