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After condemning Dave Chappelle’s remarks about transgender people in his most recent Netflix special, actor Wil Wheaton has apologized for his own past homophobia.
“For much of my teen years, I was embarrassingly homophobic, and it all started with that comedy special,” the “Star Trek: The Next Generation” alum wrote in a Facebook post, a reference to Eddie Murphy’s 1983 standup show “Delirious.”
In the lengthy social media post, he detailed a moment when he was young and said a slur, referencing gay men in a locker room — a room full of gay men, no less. He said he was “embarrassed” and “horrified” and still “thinks about it all the time,” offering up an apology nearly 30 years after the incident.
Then he turned to Chappelle’s comments in his controversial Netflix special “The Closer.”
“For a transgender person, those ‘jokes’ normalize hateful, ignorant, bigoted behavior towards them,” he wrote, then turning to those who defended Chappelle seemingly because he is a person of color. “And it’s all okay, because they were dehumanized by a Black man. And the disingenuous argument that it’s actually racist to hold Chapelle accountable for this? Get the f–k out of here.”
Wheaton further explained that Murphy’s special was, for him, a definitive springboard in his younger years.
“It had bits that still kill me. The ice cream song, Aunt Bunny falling down the stairs, mom throwing the shoe. Really funny stuff,” he continued, before calling out problematic segments. “There is also extensive homophobic material that is just f–king appalling and inexcusable.”
Jokes like that, he added, are “dehumanizing to gay men.”
“Young Wil, who watched this with his suburban white upper middle class friends, in his privileged bubble, thought it was the funniest, edgiest, dirtiest thing he’d ever heard. It killed him,” he wrote.
Fans of Wheaton and critics of Chapelle converged on Twitter, one person saying they were “so tired” of Chapelle being called a “genius.”
“A genius of what exactly? He’s a genius of comedy, sure. But he is not a genius of sociology, science or philosophy. His comedy genius doesn’t make him a beacon of truth all of a sudden,” they tweeted.
Another previous Chapelle fan said Wheaton’s comments altered her stance on his latest special.
“What Wheaton wrote changed my thoughts on Chapelle’s special. It hadn’t occurred to me how comedy normalizes thoughts,” she tweeted. “I can’t say I’m ally & not understand how harmful this is. I get it now. Thanks Will.”
This isn’t the first time Chappelle has been slammed amidst the special’s controversy. Netflix employees filed lawsuits and protestors demonstrated at the streaming service’s headquarters.
Despite Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos admitting he “screwed up” responding to the controversy fallout, he refused to pull the special.
Meanwhile, celebrities jumped to the veteran comedian’s defense, with Jay-Z calling Chapelle a “brave super-genius” and Jon Stewart saying he’s a “really good man.”
“If you’re inclined to disregard queer voices,” Wheaton ended his Facebook post, “I encourage you to reflect on your own choices and think about who you listen to and why.”
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