David Spade reacts to Dave Chappelle attack, reveals how Netflix informs him of potentially offensive jokes in his standup special

The Hollywood Reporter

"Since the Will Smith incident, I feel there’s a change in the air," Spade tells The Hollywood Reporter when asked about Chappelle being attacked Tuesday night. "The invisible barrier between audience and stage has been broken. But clearly the grace period is over. I think all performers will hit first and ask questions later if someone comes at them. Even if it’s a juggler, you might get a bowling pin across the temple." As for his recently released first Netflix standup special, Nothing Personal, Spade says when asked if Netflix gives him notes or feedback: "If I really did something they didn’t like, they would tell me. I actually did something that night that I just did off the top of my head, and I don’t think they made me take it out. I think they said, “We don’t think that’ll work as well, but it’s up to you.” And I love that because ultimately people are gonna get mad at me, but they do shoulder some responsibility because they’re where people are seeing it. So they’re gonna get caught in the crossfire. And I ultimately took this thing out because I didn’t really love the joke. It was sort of offensive — way, way worse than anything in there. But what I did is riff to the audience about why I did that joke and how I thought of it on the way there and how it was so f*cking dumb of me to try to cram it in a special, and that was funnier to me than the joke. And so I like that element of it, but I thought it wasn’t worth it to take the hit on the joke."