Transgender comedian and activist Daphne Dorman recently died by suicide after posting a public goodbye on her Facebook page — she was 44-years-old.
Dorman was notably mentioned in a reference to comedian Dave Chappelle’s latest Netflix stand-up comedy special Sticks and Stones. Though Chappelle’s stand-up was widely panned for its anti-LGBTQ content, in a hidden feature Chappelle said that he had tested his jokes on transgender comedian Daphne Dorman. Chappelle claimed she had “laughed the hardest.”
Related: A comedian licked a journalist’s ear while he was reporting. Is it assault?
In a public Facebook post published shortly before her death, Dorman wrote:
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I’m sorry.
I’ve thought about this a lot before this morning. How do you say “goodbye” and “I’m sorry” and “I love you” to all the beautiful souls you know? For the last time.
There’s no good way. That’s what I got out of all that thought.
To those of you who are mad at me: please forgive me. To those of you who wonder if you failed me: you didn’t. To those of you feel like I failed you: I did and I’m sorry and I hope you’ll remember me in better times and better light.
I love you all. I’m sorry. Please help my daughter, Naia, understand that none of this is her fault. Please remind her that I loved her with every fiber of my being.
Daphne
Here is her public Facebook post:
I'm sorry.I've thought about this a lot before this morning. How do you say "goodbye" and "I'm sorry" and "I love you"…
Posted by Daphne Dorman on Friday, October 11, 2019
On her final Facebook post, Dorman’s sister Becky Kugler wrote, “It is with great sadness and despair to hand out this information. Sweet, sweet Daphne. I so wish we could all have helped you through your darkness. We’ll always love you, fly high sweet angel.”
According to Newsweek, Dorman’s stage and TV acting career spanned 12 years. She currently worked as director of operations at the Actors Center of Philadelphia where she also taught stage combat and improvisation. She also worked as software engineer who taught job skills to trans people as a volunteer at the San Francisco LGBT Center.
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