Dave Chappelle’s new Netflix special The Closer is creating a rising outcry over statements regarding the trans and LGBTQ+ communities, just a day before the comedian’s Untitled documentary is slated to show at the Hollywood Bowl and the comic is expected onstage.

Chappelle said, “Gender is a fact. Every human being in this room, every human being on earth, had to pass through the legs of a woman to be on earth. That is a fact. Now, I am not saying that to say trans women aren’t women, I am just saying that those pussies that they got… you know what I mean? I’m not saying it’s not pussy, but it’s Beyond Pussy or Impossible Pussy. It tastes like pussy, but that’s not quite what it is, is it? That’s not blood. That’s beet juice.”

Chappelle also defended J.K. Rowling’s widely panned remarks regarding the transgender community in 2020, declaring himself “Team TERF!” (the acronym for trans-exclusionary radical feminist). Chappelle’s sixth Netflix special also aims to juxtapose rapper DaBaby’s homophobic remarks and systematic racism.

In the show, Chappelle said, “They canceled J.K. Rowling – my God. Effectively, she said gender was a fact, the trans community got mad as shit, they started calling her a TERF.”

“I’m team TERF. I agree. I agree, man. Gender is a fact,” Chappelle continued.

“In our country, you can shoot and kill a [n-word], but you better not hurt a gay person’s feelings,” the comic says, referring to a 2018 incident in which the rapper was shot and killed at a Walmart in North Carolina.

“Dave Chappelle’s brand has become synonymous with ridiculing trans people and other marginalised communities,” GLAAD commented on social media in response to “The Closer.”

“Negative reviews and viewers loudly condemning his latest special is a message to the industry that audiences don’t support platforming anti-LGBTQ diatribes. We agree.”

“I would suggest, Mr. Chappelle, that before you start on another one of your stupid routines about #LGBTQ people . . . google some names – Bayard Rustin, Monica Roberts, Barbara Jordan, Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, Angela Davis, James Baldwin, Audre Lorde,” a tweet from the account HolyBullies wrote.

“It is deeply disappointing that Netflix allowed Dave Chappelle’s lazy and hostile transphobia and homophobia to air on its platform,” said David Johns, executive director of the National Black Justice Coalition, in a statement (via Deadline). “With 2021 on track to be the deadliest year on record for transgender people in the United States — the majority of whom are Black transgender people — Netflix should know better. Perpetuating transphobia perpetuates violence.”

“Netflix should immediately pull ‘The Closer’ from its platform and directly apologize to the transgender community,” Johns’ statement continued. “Make no mistake: Black LGBTQ+ and same gender people exist — and have always existed. The fight against oppression is not a zero sum game, and the pervasiveness of white supremacy in the United States is not an excuse for homophobia or transphobia.”

Others working on Netflix projects and at the streaming service had a few things to say on Wednesday.

The executive producer of Dear White People, Jaclyn Moore, is the most famous streamer to speak out about the scandal. Dear White People was a Netflix series that ran for four seasons. Now available as an EP on Peacock’s Queer Records. Former DWP co-showrunner Moore claimed she would no longer work with the streamer “as long as they continue to put out and profit from blatantly and dangerously transphobic content” in a Twitter thread this evening.

“I love so many of the people I’ve worked with at Netflix,” Moore continued. “Brilliant people and executives who have been collaborative and fought for important art… But I’ve been thrown against walls because, ‘I’m not a “real” woman.’ I’ve had beer bottles thrown at me. So, Netflix, I’m done.”

Chappelle reverses gears, kind of, at the end of The Closer, after opening the special with a “not saying it to be mean, I’m saying it because it’s funny” comment. In a personal speech to the trans and LBGTQ+ communities, he mentions his close friendship with now-deceased transgender comic Daphne Dorman, saying, “I am not telling another joke about you until we are both sure that we are laughing together. All I ask from your community – with all humility – will you please stop punching down on my people?”