John Mulaney Is Being Torched For Surprising Showgoers With A Dave Chappelle Opener

John Mulaney has never been an “edgy” comic, and by that we mean he doesn’t tell jokes that deliberately piss people off. The closest he comes to that is in a recently released clip, in which he tells people who believe all stand-ups are damaged people to “f*ck off with that s*it.” In other words, he’s no Dave Chappelle. Perhaps that’s why people were taken aback when a show did on Friday featured a surprise appearance from the guy who pissed off a legion of Netflix staffers.

As per Variety, Mulaney was at Ohio State University in Columbus. Fans expecting another leg of his “From Scratch” tour were greeted with an opener by Chappelle, who proceeded with what has now become his schtick: make jokes about an already marginalized group of people. Audience members were forced to lock their phones before the show, so no video or even audio exists of Chappelle’s comments, but he reportedly dropped some of his anti-trans gags. When Chappelle’s set was over, Mulaney came out and gave him a hug.

Though Chappelle’s jokes reportedly got laughs, it left others present fuming on social media once they got their phones back, slamming both Chappelle and Mulaney for inviting him.

— rylan ☻ (@testosteronejew) May 21, 2022

y’all ever hear ~12,000 people laugh at a transphobic joke, while you’re a trans person in the audience who didn’t know the transphobic comedian would make a surprise appearance at the John Mulaney show yeah. wasn’t fun. fuck you D.C.

— rae (spookiest version) (@raegan_givant) May 21, 2022

okay so tell me why I just went to the John Mulaney show and Dave Chappelle was a surprise opener and made not only a transphobic joke but a homophobic one

— maddie (@boobeoisie) May 21, 2022

Celebrities who like to portray an image of a nice, politically conscious, cool-and-feminist guy almost always nope out when it gets inconvenient. You might say they have the moral backbone of a chocolate eclair. This is a tweet about John Mulaney.

— adele castro (@chameleonghosts) May 21, 2022

Disappointed in John Mulaney but also really crushed to know that Chappelle has leaned into transphobia so much that it’s pretty much his only bit now… https://t.co/YfsCwMjTnJ

— Vonté the Mencace of Yts (@NepSwirlRedux) May 21, 2022

That's AWFUL.

POV: You sign up and pay for John Mulaney's comedy and are instead forced to suffer through your own dehumanization by someone you would not knowingly pay to listen to. I wish cisgender people would get it through their thick skulls how harmful this actually is. https://t.co/7oDM4n7Ksv

— Chris Talbot-Heindl (they/them) (@talbot_heindl) May 21, 2022

How the actual goddamn fuck could John Mulaney look at his audience, be fully aware of the sort of people who go to his shows, and think “ah yes, surely they would want to watch Dave Chappelle spout off a few bigoted jokes, completely unprompted”