Entertainment
Dave Chappelle urges fans ‘not to worry about him’ amid backlash as he hosts star-studded documentary premiere in London
The comedian hosted the European premiere of Untitled in London (Picture: Getty Images)
Dave Chappelle has urged his supporters ‘not to worry’ about him as he faces backlash and being ‘cancelled’ for his ‘anti-LGBT’ jokes.
Fresh off the back of his Netflix special The Closer, Chappelle, 48, hosted the premiere of his Untitled documentary at Leicester Square’s Cineworld in London on Sunday evening.
Stars such as Alesha Dixon, Dizzee Rascal, Love Island’s Josh Denzel and Mike Boateng, Krept & Konan, Ne-Yo, Richard Blackwood and Zeze Millz were in attendance to watch the comedian’s film about his string of stand-up shows that took place in Ohio during the pandemic last year.
Chappelle made a special appearance himself at the end of the screening and discussed the events of the past week following the release of his latest Netflix special.
The comedian sparked outrage with his comments in the special, in which he said he was ‘team Terf’ – the acronym for trans-exclusionary radical feminist – while also saying ‘gender is a fact’ and sharing his backing for JK Rowling following her own controversy regarding the transgender community.
Addressing the controversy at the screening, which Metro.co.uk attended, Chappelle joked that he was being ‘cancelled’ but told his supporters: ‘Don’t worry about me… I’ve got enough money to never work again in my life.’
Alesha Dixon attended with husband Azuka Ononye (Picture: Getty Images)
The Britain’s Got Talent judge looked chic as always (Picture: Getty Images)
Dizzee Rascal was among the stars mingling at Leicester Square’s Cineworld (Picture: Getty Images)
He also mentioned how two screenings of the documentary had been cancelled elsewhere in light of the controversy, which he felt was an injustice to the overall positive message of the film.
Untitled follows Chappelle as he fights against the fast developing Covid pandemic to bring a spate of comedy shows to the small town of Yellow Springs, Ohio, where he actually lives.
Chappelle told supporters he was doing OK (Picture: WireImage)
Adam Deacon was among the crowd (Picture: Getty Images)
Richard Blackwood looked dapper as he arrived at the screening (Picture: WireImage)
Ne-Yo hopped across the pond for Chappelle’s big night (Picture: WireImage)
The revered comedian invited a huge host of his famous friends, such as Chris Rock, Kevin Hart, Chelsea Handler, David Letterman, Tiffany Haddish, Common and Erykah Badu, to help him host the socially distanced comedy shows, which ran for more than 40 nights last summer.
He faced challenges from Covid and some members of the local community, but overall received praise for uplifting the town of Yellow Springs and pumping $9million into the local economy.
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Netflix has fallen under pressure to remove The Closer from its streaming platform in light of the backlash but it is currently still available to watch.
The Closer marks Chappelle’s sixth special with the streaming giant after he signed a multi-million dollar deal in 2016.
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