Dave Chappelle has reached a mythical status and is among the masterful artists of our time, if you ask Damon Wayans. 

“He’s a unicorn. He’s amazing. He’s a van Gogh,” Wayans said during a pop-up interview with TMZ. 

The high praise stemmed from Chappelle’s brilliant yet controversial Netflix special, The Closer. Chappelle stepped on proverbial toes with jokes about the transgender community, racism and other incendiary topics. 

“I feel like Dave freed the slaves,” Wayans said. “Yeah, the comedians. We were slaves to PC culture and he just, you know—as an artist he’s van Gogh. He cut his ear off. He’s trying to tell us it’s OK.” 

The Closer was the sixth special by the 48-year-old Emmy winner, which also concludes his mega deal with Netflix. 

Related: Dave Chappelle Unbothered as LGBTQ+ Advocates Push Netflix to Pull Special 

Critics wanted Netflix to pull the show from its platform, including one of their own employees, queer and trans software engineer Terra Field. The streaming giant suspended Field and two other employees but they have since been reinstated. 

The National Black Justice Coalition, a civil rights advocacy group, called for Netflix to apologize and remove the special. GLAAD, an advocacy group for the LGBTQ+ community, tweeted their displeasure of the special. 

Related: LGBTQ+ Community Not Laughing at Dave Chappelle in Netflix Special 

“Negative reviews and viewers loudly condemning his latest special is a message to the industry that audiences don’t support platforming anti-LGBTQ diatribes,” GLAAD tweeted. 

But Wayans viewed Chappelle’s special in a different light after he saw the criticism. 

“I can’t speak about the content of the show,” Wayans said. “But what I say is, there’s a bigger conversation we need to have. Someone needs to look us in the eye and go, ‘You’re no longer free in this country. You’re not free to say what you want. You say what we want you to say. Otherwise, we will cancel you.’ That’s the discussion we should have.”