Patton Oswalt Upsets Many After Apologizing For Photo And Set With Dave Chappelle

Comedian Patton Oswalt had an exciting New Year's Eve, resulting in an ensuing controversy online over the weekend. After finishing a set of his own Friday night, longtime friend Dave Chappelle invited him next door to do a guest set at an arena. Afterward, they took a selfie together, which Oswalt posted on Instagram.

Due to Chappelle's ongoing controversy over alleged transphobic comments that sparked numerous protests at Netflix in 2021, the Instagram post was met with an outpouring of anger from many. Oswalt then posted a long-form apology on his Instagram, but it did little to stymie the backlash — both from those angered by the initial post and those who felt the apology was genuine and were upset that Oswalt would "flip on Chappelle."

Patton Oswalt took a selfie with Dave Chappelle on New Year's Eve and had to write an entire essay apologizing for it 🤣 pic.twitter.com/nZoijMCoSB

— YOUTUBE.COM / VITO (@VitoGesualdi) January 3, 2022

Patton Oswalt posts a picture of himself with Dave Chappelle, gets public backlash. Then he posts a follow-up mea culpa on social media where he says he disagrees with Chappelle & pretty much isn’t really a close bud with him or anything. Now EVERYBODY hates Patton. pic.twitter.com/m1buz136Ov

— Valerie D'Orazio (@TheVallyD) January 3, 2022

Genuinely conflicted about this. I have loved Patton Oswalt’s Comedy for years and I think he is a decent person at heart who is trying to navigate a complicated (for him) subject with grace. I also think Chappelle has caused an enormous amount of damage. Both things can be true. https://t.co/bfcitSZbAs

— Lilah Sturges (@LilahSturges) January 2, 2022

wow patton oswalt spells it "open mike" instead of "open mic," disgusting

— Al Shipley (@alshipley) January 3, 2022

A lot of people were upset with Oswalt's apology because they said it "reinforced the cancel culture stereotyping" that many supporters of Chappelle have been talking about for much of last year. This led to people making fun of this thinking and how Oswalt had to apologize for a selfie with Chappelle.

One of the saddest things I’ve ever seen. Alleged comedian Patton Oswalt publicly apologizes for the high crime of posting photos with Dave Chapelle https://t.co/neksjr5Mli

— Harry Khachatrian (@Harry1T6) January 3, 2022

Patton Oswalt should be ashamed for supporting Dave Chappelle

Comedy is not about making people laugh, its about family and being safehttps://t.co/rnO4qztjEG pic.twitter.com/5ovMA0MrfQ

— Tim Pool (@Timcast) January 3, 2022

‘I, Patton Oswalt, would like to apologise for the behaviour of my black friend…’

Doesn’t look great, does it? https://t.co/H1knI7oOWi

— Bill Moon (@BigBillMoon) January 3, 2022

Am I missing something about Patton Oswalt? I truly don’t get why people care what he does or thinks about anything.

— Amy 🐘🦙 (@WaltzingMtilda) January 3, 2022

Despite the apology attempt, there were many who were not persuaded by it and instead had an increased fervor in their denouncement of Oswalt, which led to people posting about how they were either upset or ashamed of him, and how the apology itself did not do enough to repair the harm he did with the initial post.

I thought 2022 would be when things get better, but then I saw that Patton Oswalt and Dave Chappelle are friends, so I'm going back to bed. See you in 2023!

— joey alison sayers (@joeyalison) January 1, 2022

patton oswalt posting a whole ass tribute to dave chappelle is so fucking annoying and disappointing. even if you fuck with him dont fucking post about it you know weirdo

— motti (they/them) (@notemilymotti) January 1, 2022

I've been a fan of Patton Oswalt for a long time, so this is deflating. Chapelle's hurtful comments about trans people go beyond his last Netflix special. An artist as smart as Oswalt has to know how this can add to the hurt. I'm waiting to see what his next statement will be. https://t.co/Yt3aZe7yuY

— ⚛️ Paul Vermeersch ⚛️ (@PaulVermeersch) January 1, 2022

Who's gonna explain to Patton Oswalt that there's a big difference between being friends with a transphobe and APPEARING ON THAT TRANSPHOBE'S SHOW? Because the apology he posted doesn't seem to address the second part.

— Rabbit Cohen (@BathysphereHat) January 3, 2022

Patton Oswalt is using his platform to refer to women's rights defenders as "TERFs".

How do you define "woman" @pattonoswalt, and who gets to decide?

When women are reduced to a male fantasy, our humanity is diminished to objectifying constructs.pic.twitter.com/3Ks61IyQhw https://t.co/ju4yy0pOzw

— Women's Voices (@WomenReadWomen) January 3, 2022

Out of all the noise brought on by this, there were, of course, those who simply took the chance to make jokes of the whole debacle.

Dave Chappelle should have to apologize for being photographed with Patton Oswalt https://t.co/WFAoVrco2W

— Dr. Ricardo (Pro-Representative Republic) Harambe (@Richard_Harambe) January 3, 2022