I like Patton Oswalt. He’s unique, funny, and seems really likable. He also counts Dave Chappelle as one of his buddies.
But Oswalt was on the receiving end of some backlash after he posted a photo on Instagram of him and Chappelle. Self-proclaimed trans allies eviscerated Oswalt for daring to have a friend with an opinion that did not march in lock-step with radical trans orthodoxy. “I saw a friend I hadn’t seen in a long time this New Year’s Eve. We’ve known each other since we’re teens. He’s a fellow comedian, the funniest I’ve ever met,” Oswalt said. “I wanted to post a pic & an IG story about it — so I did. The friend is Dave Chappelle. Thirty four YEARS we’ve been friends.”
So far so good, but then he veered into that place where good people feel forced to plunge a knife into the back of their supposed friend.
Just posted a photo https://t.co/5H35fB69Jv
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) January 2, 2022
We also 100% disagree about transgender rights & representation. I support trans peoples’ rights — ANYONE’S rights — to live safely in the world as their fullest selves. For all the things he’s helped ME evolve on, I’ll always disagree with where he stands NOW on transgender issues. “But I also don’t believe a seeker like him is done evolving, learning. You know someone that long, see the struggles and changes, it’s impossible to cut them off.”
“I’m an LGBTQ ally. I’m a loyal friend. There’s friction in those traits that I need to reconcile myself, and not let cause feels of betrayal in ANYONE else. And I’m sorry, truly sorry, that I didn’t consider the hurt this would cause.”
The hurt Oswalt is talking about is posting a picture with his ‘friend,’ Dave Chappelle. That’s apparently all it takes for a guy like Oswalt to offer a sniveling, pandering response to the mob. And hey, who doesn’t tell friends they are unevolved and ignorant when they disagree on an issue?
The trans issue is the most vitriolic issue today, where one side is so sure of themselves that they equate ideas like ‘transwomen and women are equal but different’ with saying the n word as a white person. They don’t care that placating to radical trans activists have led to women being marginalized, assaulted, and raped. In fact, they never talk about that aspect at all. Moreover, they have decided – for all of us, mind you – that any deterrence from the notion that transwomen and women are identical is an affront to human rights.
https://twitter.com/VitoGesualdi/status/1477912756946755584?s=20
We’ve seen blubbering apologies to the mob before, but I always thought comedians were above that nonsense. What Oswalt did, in my view, was so egregious because he crucified his fellow comedian in public, a virtue-signaling tactic seen mostly in academia and the ungrateful cast of the Harry Potter films.
.@pattonoswalt thinks he needs to educate a black comic—then proceeds to use the slur “TERF” to denigrate and intimidate women and trans people who stand up for boundaries.
This is his “need to educate black people and women” super serious thinking face.https://t.co/B51p9YmBML pic.twitter.com/18g576hlIS
— Mandy Stadtmiller (@mandystadt) January 3, 2022
Chappelle’s most recent stand-up special clarified his views, and nothing he said can be labeled as hateful, or ignorant, or unevolved.
If anything, Oswalt’s hat-in-hand response is a condescending screed where the only self-criticism he could muster was to lightly chastise himself for not successfully leading Chappelle to an opinion that was exactly like his, a gross, faux-self-examination where the assumption is that Oswalt knows something Chappelle doesn’t.
Every rational person I know wants transgendered people to live fruitful, unencumbered lives where they are treated with dignity and respect. That doesn’t mean transwomen are women, it means they are equal but different.
Until we are prepared to have an honest conversation about that aspect of this issue, people like Oswalt will continue to pretend they are more evolved, when the truth is they are just comfortable not having to actually think about the issue they seem to care so much about.
