B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
Weeks after his special "The Closer" was criticized for its jokes aimed at transgender people, Dave Chappelle has addressed the controversy.
He'll meet with "the transgender community" that takes issue with his jokes about trans people, he told audiences at a gig in Nashville on Sunday -- but is "not bending to anybody's demands," he said in videos posted to his verfied Instagram account.
Chappelle, who appeared in Nashville alongside Joe Rogan, who's been criticized for dismissing the effectiveness of vaccines, and other comedians, shared a section of his set in which he asked audiences if he's "canceled or not?"
"It's been said in the press that I was invited to speak with transgender employees at Netflix and I refused," Chappelle said at the beginning of the five-minute clip. "That is not true. If they had invited me I would've accepted, although I am confused about what we're speaking about.
"I said what I said and boy, I heard what you said," he continued, apparently addressing trans employees at Netflix, some of whom participated in a walkout last week after the company continued to defend "The Closer." "My god, how could I not? You said you wanted a safe working environment at Netflix. Well, it seems like I'm the only one who can't go to the office anymore."
"I want everyone in this audience to know that even though the media frames it as though it's me versus that community, that's not what it is. Do not blame the LBGTQ [sic] community for any of this s---. This has nothing to do with them. It's about corporate interest and what I can say and what I cannot say."
"For the record -- and I need you to know this -- everyone I know from that community has been nothing but loving and supportive. So I don't know what all this nonsense is about."
In "The Closer," Chappelle joked about trans women's genitalia and TERFs (or trans-exclusionary radical feminists), among other topics. Trans comedians told CNN earlier this month they felt that the comments were an example of "punching down" on those with less power and a betrayal of the astute social commentary for which Chappelle is known.
In his Nashville set, Chappelle went on to discuss the series of comedy shows he staged in small-town Ohio in the summer of 2020, some of which were filmed for an upcoming documentary. But because of the criticism surrounding "The Closer," Chappelle told audiences, he has been disinvited from several film festivals and "today, not a film company, not a movie studio, not a film festival ... will touch this film."
"Thank God for Ted Sarandos at Netflix," he told the audience of the company's co-CEO. "He's the only one that didn't cancel me yet."
"To the transgender community, I am more than willing to give you an audience," he said. "But you will not summon me. I am not bending to anybody's demands."
Chappelle said he has three conditions for those who want to meet with him: "You must come to a place of my choosing, at a time of my choosing. And thirdly, you must admit that Hannah Gadsby is not funny." (Gadsby, a lesbian comedian whose specials "Nanette" and "Douglas" are also streaming on Netflix, criticized Sarandos for standing behind "The Closer" earlier this month.)
"You cannot have this conversation and exclude my voice from it. That is only fair," Chappelle said. "You have to answer the question -- am I canceled or not? Now let's go."
Chappelle announced that the documentary on his pandemic comedy shows will be released in theaters in 10 cities in the US and Canada throughout November, along with live performances from Chappelle and other guests.
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
An Ontario man who took out a loan to pay for auto repairs said his car was repossessed after he missed two payments.
A girl and a boy, both 14 years old, made their first appearance today in a Halifax courtroom, where they each face a second-degree murder charge in the stabbing death of a 16-year-old high school student.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.