Amidst the continuing cancel-culture panic against Dave Chappelle, and his Netflix special, high school students called for cancellation of an off-campus fundraiser with the comedian. This was in order to raise money for a theater.
Even better (or worse, depending on one’s perspective), the theater’s name? “Chappelle Theater.”
The Blaze noted that Chappelle, who graduated in 1991, has supported Duke Ellington School of Arts since its inception. Chappelle credits Duke Ellington School of Arts with saving his life.
This thing wasn’t a controversy, it was always a cluster.
As reported by Politico, students unhappy with Chappelle over his comments about the LGBTQ community pushed the school to cancel the fundraiser and the theater’s name.
Ellington was first alarmed, saying that it would cancel fundraising due to student protests. In response to the hissy fit from offended students, Ellington declared that it would cancel its fundraiser. NotThe event will be cancelled. The organizers announced that, while they will still hold the fundraiser, it will now be rescheduled for Nov. 23, to be on April 22. Cooling off period, no doubt. No doubt ridiculous,You can also find them here.
You can see the chaos in Twitter.
Washington, D.C. High school students threatened to organize a walkout and so Dave Chappelle cancelled a fundraising event. https://t.co/QOPmXwvJCX
— National Review (@NRO) November 13, 2021
High school POSTPONES Dave Chappelle fundraiser after woke students revolthttps://t.co/iRu6AQSOqv
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) November 13, 2021
The school’s final statement on the controversy reads in part:
Duke Ellington School of the Arts is the District’s leader in arts education for over 50 years. We aim to inspire and nurture passion for the arts, and to provide opportunities to students with artistic talent who may not have otherwise.
Our strong emphasis on community service, activism, and activism prepares students to be productive members of our global society. This mission is a success.
We will be honoring Dave Chappelle on April 22nd 2022 by naming the theatre after him. Peggy Cooper Cafritz was one of our founding members and recognized Chappelle’s importance as a thought leader.
He would be remembered for his past and present influence, which she understood would increase Ellington’s visibility, provide opportunities for Ellington citizens, and help with fundraising for our future arts-based curriculum.
Isn’t that what it’s all about? Let me fix that: Isn’t it about what it Should it be about all of that?
The school is proud to welcome a distinguished former student home, to thank the institution for his service. Saving his life irrespective of a few butt-hurt snowflakes who jumped like lemmings aboard the cancel-culture bandwagon against its latest target — a brilliant comedian and social commentator I doubt they’ve ever seen, let alone Listen to.In an effort to Understand what he thinks What do you think about the LGBTQ community? I’ll take all bets that they have not — much less give a d*mn, one way or the other.
Ellington also said it rejects the “cancel culture” notion outright.
We recognize that not everyone will accept or welcome a particular artist’s point of view, product, or craft, but reject the notion that a ‘cancel culture’ is a healthy or constructive means to teach our students how society should balance creative freedom with protecting the right and dignity of all of its members.
To reiterate, the school will also move forward with plans to name its theater after Chappelle — despite a threatened student walkout.
Chappelle, incidentally, addressed Duke Ellington School of Arts students in 2019 by telling them:
“Protect your heart, young people, protect your heart. Don’t ever become a cynic!”
Dave was greeted with wild applause as he left stage. This is what you can imagine. It was only two years ago.
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