The commitment was initially postponed last November after critics blasted the comedian’s top Netflix special.Close, ”As Transphobic. Ellington students also expressed concern.
Chappell told audiences on Monday that the theater with his name did not want to divert attention from the students’ sense of art, even though he thought the setback against him was lacking in subtlety and not about his work.
He also noted that the “real” criticism hurt himself.
Chappell said he decided Friday that the school did not have his name on it. “But the Ellington family is my family,” he said.
At the time of the controversy last year, Duke Ellington Principal Sandy Logan said he had held formal and informal meetings with students to discuss Chappell’s ideas, including weekly meetings with the school’s gender and student leaders’ advisory board. Sexual alliance.
“Moving the event forward without first noticing the questions and concerns of members of the Ellington community is a missed opportunity for a teachable moment,” the school wrote in a statement.
Founded in 1974 with the goal of providing free, first-rate art education to children in the nation’s capital, Duke Ellington is one of the few art schools in the country that attracts students from all over the city and mostly educates black student groups.
Chappell pledges $ 100,000 to school theater Said last October The theater with his name is “the most important honor of my life.”
“I skipped school. I would hide there when I skipped class. Who would have thought that the theater would one day be named after me? ” Chappell spoke to fundraisers for Ellington before “The Closer” premiered at the Angelica Pop-up Theater in Union Market. “But I understand that because sometimes when you love things, they love you again. I loved that school.
