Dorman took her own life on Oct. 11, 2019 at the age of 44, and The Closer was released a few days shy of the second anniversary of her passing. “To those of you who are mad at me: please forgive me,” she had written in a final Facebook post. “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.”
Becky wanted to make clear that her family does not blame Dorman’s death on Chappelle. “After she committed suicide, all I saw all over social media was Dave Chappelle-bashing,” she said. “I commented on so many posts, which is something I do not do. I commented to defend Dave.
“No one knows what life was like for my siblings and I,” she added. “We are products of how we were brought [up]. Dave was the biggest bright spot for Daphne; she was enamored for the first time. Blaming Dave is beyond the wrong thing to do. He helped her and let her be comfortable while talking with him. She had many demons; Dave Chappelle was NOT one of them.”
Becky confirmed that over the summer, Chappelle had finalized setting up a college fund for Dorman’s young daughter, adding that she had planned to watch the special later that night. “I saw his first special and was thrilled for my sister and even more so after we got to talk about [it] together,” she wrote.
“The man loved my sister and felt empathy towards her human experience and, yes, he makes terrible jokes that are also funny,” Brandy added in her Facebook post. “News flash, our whole family does that. Our funerals are laughter through tears, we mourn by remembering the times we laughed together, and yes, some inappropriate humor, too... As often as Dave stands up for Daphne, we will be there for Dave. This man is our tribe, and we mourn alongside him.”
