Marlon Wayans Explains Friendship with Dave Chappelle While Supporting His Trans Son: ‘I Know Dave’s Heart’
Marlon Wayans Explains Friendship with Dave Chappelle While Supporting His Trans Son: ‘I Know Dave’s Heart’
Jack SmartMon, May 25, 2026 at 8:52 PM UTC
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Marlon Wayans; Dave Chappelle
Credit: Getty(2)
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Marlon Wayans spoke to Variety about his recent projects, including the upcoming sequel-reboot Scary Movie
The actor-filmmaker was asked about supporting both his transgender son Kai and friend Dave Chappelle, who has made controversial jokes at the trans community's expense
“I know Dave's heart, and his intention isn't to punch down,” explained Wayans
Marlon Wayans is offering insight into his friendship with Dave Chappelle.
In a new interview with Variety, theScary Movie creator-star, 53, was asked about navigating his relationship with Chappelle, 52, who has received backlash for jokes at the expense of the transgender community in his comedy material. Wayans has spoken openly about supporting his trans son, Kai.
“I wouldn't hang with Dave if he was full of hate. I don't hang with people like that,” Wayans told the outlet. “I know Dave's heart, and his intention isn't to punch down.”
Chapelle's 2021 Netflix comedy special The Closersparked backlash due to his disparaging jokes about multiple trans people amid a nationwide wave of legislation targeting LGBTQ+ rights. It led to a walkout by hundreds of Netflix employees who decried Chappelle's material as transphobic. GLAAD and the National Black Justice Coalition spoke out against the special, with some calling for a Netflix boycott.
The comedian said at the time that he was open to speaking with the streamer's employees and didn't “blame” vocal LGBTQ+ people for the controversy. “Everyone I know from that community has been nothing but loving and supporting," he said, adding, “I said what I said. And, boy, I heard what you said. My God, how could I not?”
Speaking to Variety, Wayans positioned the controversy as a censorship “war,” adding, “You have to be a comedian to understand that.”
Chappelle, he said, “wants to freely tell his jokes, and if you're going to be anti-comedy, then he's going to keep attacking you until you learn to have a sense of humor. He's just standing there and defending his front line as a comedian.”
Kai Wayans and Marlon Wayans via Instagram
Credit: Kai Wayans/Instagram
As a fellow comedian, continued Wayans, “I respect [Chappelle's] journey. And as a friend, I respect his journey. And for my child, I respect their journey.”
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He concluded, “And as the father of my child, I can appropriate my feelings toward my friend and my feelings toward my child, and how we can put those two things together and I can explain both sides. I'm between them, so I can explain both sides to each other.”
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Wayans is father to sons Kai, 25, and Shawn, 24, with ex Angela Zackery, and daughter Axl, 3, with ex Brittany Moreland. Wayans told PEOPLE in 2024 he underwent a period of soul-searching when Kai first revealed they were transgender.
“It took me all of a week, and in that week I grew the most that I ever did in my life,” the White Chicks writer-star shared at the time. “You understand the purpose of kids and the beauty of unconditional love. At the end of the day, in my heart, only thing that matters to me is that my child is happy.”
Marlon Wayans and Dave Chappelle in 2019
Credit: Bauer-Griffin/GC Images
Chappelle has continued to weigh in those who "politicized" his jokes while targeting the trans community, recently criticizing Rep. Lauren Boebert for posting a 2023 photo with him to Instagram captioned that they were “people who understand that there's only two genders.”
“I did resent that the Republican Party ran on transgender jokes,” the comedian told NPR's Newsmakers podcast in April. “I felt like they were doing a weaponized version of what I was doing.”
Wayans returns to the Scary Movie franchise he co-created in 2000 with his brother Shawn in a new sequel-reboot directed by Michael Tiddes. The actor-filmmaker, in addition to starring alongside Regina Hall and Anna Faris, co-wrote the script with brothers Shawn and Keenen Ivory, as well as their nephew Craig Wayans and Rick Alvarez.
Scary Movie is in theaters nationwide June 5.
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
