Patton Oswalt apologizes, defends New Year's Eve photo with Dave Chappelle

The Hollywood Reporter

Oswalt's New Year's Eve Instagram post with Chappelle generated so much controversy that the comedian deleted some of the negative comments. Oswalt was slammed for celebrating Chappelle amid Chappelle's anti-trans controversy. In a follow-up post, Oswalt explained: “He’s a fellow comedian, the funniest I’ve ever met. I wanted to post a pic & an IG story about it — so I did. The friend is Dave Chappelle. Thirty four YEARS we’ve been friends,” he wrote. “We’ve done bad & good gigs, open mikes & TV tapings.” Despite being longtime friends, Oswalt added, “we 100% disagree about transgender rights & representation. I support trans peoples’ rights — ANYONE’S rights — to live safely in the world as their fullest selves.” Oswalt added that he doesn't “believe a seeker like (Chappelle) is done evolving, learning.”