John Mulaney Fans Say They Felt Ambushed By Him Bringing Dave Chappelle Out For His Show

What happens when you bring together two once-beloved-now-sort-of-disgraced comedians together on stage? Jokes and social media backlash, of course! John Mulaney, boyfriend and baby daddy of Olivia Munn is back on tour and surprised his Ohio audience with a special guest star: Dave Chappelle.

As of late, John has been in the news not so much for his comedy but for his messy divorce from Anna Marie Tendler, suspicious hook up with Munn, and baby saga. Fans who once LOVED the guy outright HATED him for dragging his good name through the mud. And most egregious of all, the whole thing brought the annoying term “parasocial relationship” back into the fore on social media. To be honest, it was a little strange that the love life of a tall child touched a huge nerve with people. Unlike John, Dave HAS been in the news for his standup. His Netflix special The Closer was met with protest after featuring transphobic jokes. That hasn’t bothered Dave and he even managed to make a joke about it after being attacked on stage. Needless to say (but I’m saying it anyway!), it’s been a weird year for Mulaney and Chappelle fans.

Still, John has legions of fans ready to pay good money to see the guy. He just launched a stand-up tour across the US which, so far, hasn’t rocked any boats. That is until John thought, “I haven’t received any hate recently. What can I do to change that?” via BuzzFeed News:

Some attendees who were looking forward to watch John Mulaney’s stand-up show in Ohio on Friday night were taken aback when Dave Chappelle opened the show with an anti-trans and anti-gay joke during a 15-minute surprise performance.

Many fans took to social media to express their anger at being “ambushed” by Chappelle, who has a history of mocking the LGBTQ community. Attendees told BuzzFeed News they were also disappointed with Mulaney for giving Chappelle another platform to malign an ”already-marginalized” community.

Phones weren’t allowed at the event, so it was only after the show ended that people could let loose. Transpeople who were in the audience expressed their disappointment in Mulaney for having Chappelle on considering the controversy around him. John can’t blame baby brain on this one!

“I’m just a little disappointed in [Mulaney],” Morgan, 21, who attended Friday night’s show, told BuzzFeed News. She did not want to provide her last name to protect her privacy.

“It hurts to know that Chappelle’s transphobia wasn’t enough of a deterrent to keep him off the show,” Morgan said. “I probably wouldn’t have gone or I would’ve at least skipped the openers if I knew Chappelle would be there.”

my favorite part of tonight was when dave chappelle ambushed us at the john mulaney show, told a bunch of transphobic jokes, a massive stadium of people laughed, and then john mulaney hugged him at the end

— rylan ☻ (@testosteronejew) May 21, 2022

Pretty disappointed in John Mulaney, saw him tonight and yeah, he was funny, but he gave Dave Chapelle the platform to make some transphobic jokes. Also very disheartening to hear a crowd of 12,000 around you (a trans person) laughing at transphobic jokes. Thanks Columbus.

— Libby (@libbeefy) May 21, 2022

As for the offensive jokes, someone who was there said one of Dave’s jokes was about his onstage attacker coming at him with a knife gun, via TMZ:

“I mean, it wasn’t a gun, it was a knife! A gun that identifies as a knife?”
He then paused, smiled a bit, and moved on quickly.

– The homophobic joke was him saying “maybe you two are gay, I don’t know, nothing wrong with that if that’s the case.”

— Reggie Dill Pickle-May (Not Reggie, Duh) (@FillsAnime) May 21, 2022

Apparently, this is not the first time that John Mulaney pissed off his fans by bringing out Dave Chappelle. During John Mulaney’s shows at Red Rocks in Colorado last month, Dave Chappelle was the surprise opener and it wasn’t a good surprise to some fans since he allegedly did a stereotypical impersonation of a Chinese person and asked a disabled girl with a service dog if she ever puts “a little peanut butter down there.” So if John Mulaney is trying to shed his “nice guy comic” persona for once and for all, it seems to be working with his fans!

Pics: INSTARImages