On Dave Chappelle’s Melbourne show where phones aren’t allowed: The comedian vows to poke fun at ‘R****ds’ instead of trans people after the furore – as he reveals the worst about Australia
Dave Chappelle is in Australia for a national stand up comedy tour and performed to a sold out crowd of 15,000 at Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena on Saturday.
The comedian, 49, opened his show The Lunatics Manifesto with his striking, cutting wit as he addressed the outrage over his jokes about the trans community.
“I’ve received complaints about me making fun of LGBTQ+ people, so I won’t be doing that tonight… Instead, I’m going to make fun of r****ds,” he said.
Dave Chappelle (pictured) is currently in Australia for a national stand up comedy tour and performed to a sold out crowd of 15,000 at Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena on Saturday
Chappelle lived up to his reputation for shocking audiences with an hour of politically incorrect humor in which no subject was taboo.
His show – which had a strict no-phone policy to prevent recording and live tweeting – covered controversial topics including Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars and Chappelle being onstage last year from a ” dirty homeless” was attacked.
The Washington native then joked that he had trouble adjusting to life Down Under due to his cultural differences with America.
The comedian, 49, opened his show with his signature cutting wit as he addressed the furore over his jokes about the trans community. “I’ve received complaints about me making fun of LGBTQ+ people, so I’m not going to do that tonight… Instead, I’m going to make fun of r*****s,” he said
The Emmy winner said he hates buying Australian cigarettes because “they have pictures of diseases on the packs”.
“I say, ‘I’ll take the packet with the sick lung on it,'” he told the crowd.
Chappelle had a packed stadium in suspense as he joked about marriage, fame, drug use and life in Australia.
The crowd was begging for more by the end of his performance and he joked they could fly to Brisbane to see him perform there on Wednesday.
The Emmy winner said he hates buying Australian cigarettes because “they have pictures of diseases on the packs”.
Chappelle won Best Comedy Album for his Netflix special The Closer at the Grammy Awards, held in Los Angeles in January.
His victory sparked outrage because he made jokes aimed at the transgender community.
The backlash included a staged strike by employees at Netflix’s LA headquarters after the streaming giant’s CEO, Ted Sarandos, defended Chappelle’s jokes as artistic expression and nothing more than an example of “creative freedom.”
Chappelle was unable to attend the ceremony due to his Australian tour commitments.
The crowd was begging for more by the end of his performance and he joked they could fly to Brisbane to see him perform there on Wednesday
At his show in Perth, a wild brawl broke out in the audience.
He was performing to a sold-out crowd at the RAC Arena when a riot erupted in a top row at the back of the venue, involving screams and curses.
No footage of the melee has surfaced because Chappelle has enforced a strict no-phone policy at his performances for the past six years.
He is known to have spoken about how he was attacked by a spectator onstage at the Hollywood Bowl in LA nearly a year ago as all hell broke loose.
Chappelle won Best Comedy Album for his Netflix special The Closer at the Grammy Awards, held in Los Angeles in January. His victory sparked outrage because he made jokes aimed at the transgender community